the essential
The Court of Cassation has ruled. Nicolas Sarkozy will be equipped with an electronic bracelet in the wiretapping affair also called the Bismuth affair. The former head of state was prosecuted for corruption and influence peddling.
Nicolas Sarkozy is definitively sentenced in the wiretapping affair to 1 year in prison. He will serve this sentence while being equipped with an electronic bracelet. Nicolas Sarkozy was prosecuted for corruption and influence peddling in this case also called the Paul Bismuth affair. The Court of Cassation rejected his appeal and sentenced him to 3 years in prison, 2 of which were suspended, and 3 years of ineligibility. The Court of Cassation ruled this Tuesday, December 18, early in the afternoon.
The highest French court had three possibilities: annul the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal in full, annul it partially or reject Nicolas Sarkozy’s appeal by making his conviction final, which it did.
The Court of Cassation also rejected the appeals of Thierry Herzog and Gilbert Azibert who are also definitively convicted.
Nicolas Sarkozy will refer the matter to the CDEH
Nicolas Sarkozy, 69, will soon be summoned before a sentencing judge who will have to determine the terms of wearing his electronic bracelet. Nicolas Sarkozy’s lawyer, Me Patrice Spinosi, indicates that the ex-president “will obviously comply” with his final conviction but that he will refer the matter to the European Court of Human Rights (CDEH) which has only an advisory opinion.
Also read:
Nicolas Sarkozy convicted in the wiretapping affair: “A stunning decision” for his lawyer
“A pact of corruption”
In the Bismuth case, the former head of state was found guilty a second time, on May 17, 2023, of having entered into a “corruption pact” with Gilbert in 2014, alongside his historic lawyer Thierry Herzog. Azibert, senior magistrate at the Court of Cassation, so that he can transmit information and try to influence an appeal filed by Nicolas Sarkozy in the Bettencourt affair. In exchange, the magistrate would have benefited from a “boost” for an honorary position in Monaco.
The three men were given the same sentence, with the lawyer banned from practicing for three years. Nicolas Sarkozy, Me Thierry Herzog and Gilbert Azibert have proclaimed their innocence since the beginning of the affair.
Also read:
Nicolas Sarkozy’s “tapping” affair: but who is Paul Bismuth really?
Other legal deadlines for Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy has another appointment with justice in 2025. He must appear from January 6, for a period of 4 months, at the Paris court, in the case of suspicion of Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign. In 2025, the Court of Cassation will also have to decide on the former president’s appeal against his sentence to one year in prison, including six months in the Bygmalion case, concerning the excessive spending of his 2012 campaign.
