This is an unprecedented sanction for a former head of state. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to one year in prison under an electronic bracelet. The Court of Cassation rejected this Wednesday, December 18, Nicolas Sarkozy’s appeal in the wiretapping case. He was convicted of corruption and influence peddling.
Until now suspended, this sentence, to which is added three years of ineligibility, is now applicable: Nicolas Sarkozy, 69 years old, will be summoned before a sentence enforcement judge who will have to determine the terms of his electronic bracelet . This is the first definitive conviction of the ex-president.
He will refer the matter to the European Court of Human Rights
Nicolas Sarkozy will “comply” with the sanction imposed but will refer the matter to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), announced his lawyer, Patrice Spinosi. “At the same time, he will appeal to the European Court in the coming weeks, as he is now entitled to do, to obtain the guarantee of rights that French judges have denied him,” he added. This referral does not, however, prevent the execution of the sanctions imposed.
“I am not decided to accept the profound injustice done to me,” the former head of state wrote on innocence.” “I will assume my responsibilities and face all its consequences,” said the former president. “The appeal that I am making before the ECHR could unfortunately lead to France being condemned”, he underlines again, believing that he would not have taken this action if he had “benefited from a calm legal analysis” . “I am accused of having thought of helping an application which was never formulated, by an intervention which was never made, in exchange for a service which was never requested nor provided! », he denounces.
Summons before the sentence enforcement judge
Nicolas Sarkozy must now be summoned – in principle within a period of less than a month – before a sentence enforcement judge (JAP), who will determine the terms of his bracelet, which will be placed later.
In this case, Nicolas Sarkozy was convicted at first instance on March 1, 2021, then on appeal on May 17, 2023. The former tenant of the Elysée was found guilty of having tied the knot in 2014, alongside his historic lawyer Thierry Herzog, a “corruption pact” with Gilbert Azibert, senior magistrate at the Court of Cassation, so that he transmits information and tries to influence an appeal filed by Nicolas Sarkozy in the Bettencourt affair. And this, in exchange for a promised “help” for an honorary position in Monaco.
The three men were given the same sentence, with the lawyer banned from wearing the black dress for three years. Their appeals were also rejected and these sentences are therefore final.
