France’s former President Sarkozy loses his appeal in the corruption case
France’s highest court has upheld a corruption verdict against former President Nicolas Sarkozy and dismissed his appeal.
Wednesday’s Cour de Cassation ruling means Sarkozy, who was in power from 2007 to 2012, will now have to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet for a year.
Sarkozy, 69, responded by saying he was unwilling to accept “the profound injustice” and would now turn to the European Court of Human Rights to challenge the ruling.
He was originally sentenced to three years in prison in 2021, but two of those years were suspended and the third year was commuted to electronic monitoring instead of prison.
Sarkozy was convicted in 2014 after leaving office of attempting to bribe a judge by suggesting he could secure him a prestigious job in exchange for information about another case.
In the 2021 ruling, Judge Christine Mée said the conservative politician “knew what (he) was wrong,” adding that his actions and those of his lawyer gave the public “a very poor image of justice.”
The criminal offenses cited were influence peddling and violation of professional secrecy.
Sarkozy’s lawyer Patrice Spinosi said after the Cour de Cassation’s ruling on Wednesday that his client would abide by the terms of the ruling.
Sarkozy has now exhausted all legal options in France and his planned appeal to the European Court of Human Rights will not delay the enforcement of the judgment.
The 2021 conviction was a legal milestone for post-war France.
The only precedent was the trial of Sarkozy’s predecessor Jacques Chirac, who was given a two-year suspended sentence in 2011 because, as mayor of Paris, he had arranged bogus jobs in the Paris City Hall for allies. Chirac died in 2019.
