Nicolas Sarkozy was definitively sentenced to three years in prison, including one year under an electronic bracelet, for “corruption” and “influence peddling” in the so-called “wiretapping” (or “Bismuth”) affair. On RMC, this Thursday morning, his lawyer Jacqueline Laffont deplores, like her client, an “unfair” decision.
A first for a former president of the Fifth Republic. The sentencing of Nicolas Sarkozy to three years in prison, including one year under an electronic bracelet, for “corruption” and “influence peddling” in the so-called “wiretapping affair” (or “Bismuth in the wiretapping affair ( or Bismuth), was definitively confirmed by the Court of Cassation this Wednesday.
“He still considers himself innocent and he is determined to continue his legal fight so that she is one day recognized, explains his lawyer, Me Jacqueline Laffont, this Thursday morning on RMC. This is the reason why he is going to take the European Court of Human Rights which, I hope, will finally say the law in a case in which the law has been very mishandled.”
“He’s going to wear his electronic bracelet,” she assures us in Apolline Morning. He always respected the judicial institution. He fought it when he found it unfair and that is the case now. He finds justice unfair. I think he’s not the only one. I was quite surprised myself by the way in which a number of people from very different political backgrounds received this decision yesterday, which is once again worrying and principledly shocking.”
“I find that the law has slipped in this case,” says Me Jacqueline Laffont. “In reality, what I believe is that justice could not admit, and it was perhaps too serious for it in the face of the personality of Nicolas Sarkozy, that it had erred in this period.”
Today’s guest: Me Jacqueline Laffont – 12/19
Upcoming appeals against ineligibility and loss of the Legion of Honor
“It’s something that I have never seen in my entire career,” assures Me Jacqueline Laffont. “I believe that it is prohibited by the criminal chamber of the Court of Cassation in an admittedly very old judgment, because it does not never happens… This concerns public freedoms, professional secrecy between a lawyer and his client A man was convicted, but also his lawyer Thierry Herzog, on the exclusive basis of telephone interceptions between a lawyer and his client. who were cut into small extracts, of which a very random interpretation was provided to tend to this condemnation. There is not a single material element And on the contrary, the material elements contradict this interpretation which is made.
Nicolas Sarkozy was also sentenced to three years of ineligibility and could lose his Legion of Honor. But he will launch appeals. “These are measures which can be called into question, explains his lawyer on RMC. These are final convictions but for which there are appeals. For ineligibility, the law allows it, we will be able within six months to seize a judge again to ask that this measure be lifted. We will fight all aspects of this conviction which I find unfair.
Nicolas Sarkozy soon summoned to the sentencing judge
For Nicolas Sarkozy, the next step is his summons to a sentence enforcement judge. This could be in the coming weeks, at the Paris court. This is where the precise terms of his electronic bracelet will be discussed and then fixed, in particular the hours at which Nicolas Sarkozy must be at home. Then, secondly, the integration and probation service will go to his Parisian home to install a box, from which he must not leave at the scheduled times. And that’s when the famous electronic bracelet will be placed on his ankle, like 15,600 other prisoners currently serving a sentence at home.
After the rejection of the cassation appeal, those close to Nicolas Sarkozy do not have harsh enough words: an ad hominem decision, relentlessness, a desire for humiliation… The former president, too, widely criticizes this decision . “I am not decided to accept the profound injustice done to me” writes Nicolas Sarkozy. He has already announced that he wants to refer the case to the European Court of Human Rights, even if this does not prevent the execution of the sentence.
One of Nicolas Sarkozy’s followers assures him, “he’s a fighter, he will fight until the end.” But the procedure promises to be long. “It will be a drag for at least 3 more years” anticipates this relative. And another burden will be added in January, with the trial on the alleged Libyan financing of the 2007 campaign. Despite this conviction, several right-wing executives are convinced, Nicolas Sarkozy will always be asked to provide advice policies.
Laurent Picat with Guillaume Biet and Romain Cluzel
