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France's former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Photo: Christophe Archambault / AFP
An appeals court has upheld the conviction of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy for bribery and unauthorised influence. In its verdict on Wednesday, the court in Paris upheld the conviction of the 68-year-old in the first instance to three years in prison, two of which were suspended. Sarkozy is allowed to serve one year in prison at home under electronic surveillance. In addition, he will be deprived of his civil rights for three years. This means that he can neither vote for himself nor face an election as a politician.
"We're going to see this through to the end"
Whether it will even come to that, however, is still open. The former head of state can appeal against the decision. Sarkozy's lawyer confirmed this after the verdict was announced. "Nicolas Sarkozy is innocent," said Jacqueline Laffont. "We're going to see this through to the end. We are only at the beginning of the process."
At the time, the verdict against Sarkozy was considered unprecedented. The conservative's lawyer called it "extremely harsh" and "unjustified."
Specifically, the proceedings were about the fact that the former conservative president is said to have tried in 2014 through his long-time lawyer Thierry Herzog to obtain investigative secrets in another affair from the lawyer Gilbert Azibert. In return, Azibert was offered assistance in applying for a post in Monaco. In essence, this behavior endangered the independence of the judiciary, the prosecution argued. Herzog and Azibert were also sentenced to three years in prison each, two of them on probation. The Court of Appeals upheld these sentences on Wednesday.
As the presiding judge, Sophie Clément, said in the verdict, the acts committed by Sarkozy were all the more serious because they were committed by a former president.
muk/dpa