The announcement of Nicolas Sarkozy’s prison sentence will be a landmark in the history of the Fifth Republic. Christophe Giltay looks at this historic decision.
This Thursday morning on bel RTL, Christophe Giltay spoke about the conviction, pronounced yesterday, of Nicolas Sarkozy to three years in prison, one of which is closed, which he will serve under an electronic bracelet.
Can we say that this conviction, which is a first, taints the presidential office, even if Sarkozy left the Élysée in 2012?
The least we can say is that it’s messy. Certainly, Jacques Chirac was also sentenced to two years in prison after his presidency, but he was spared a harsh sentence and the electronic bracelet. As for Nicolas Sarkozy, he will have, in a few days, to meet the sentence enforcement judge who will determine the conditions of his virtual detention.
Indeed, if he is covered by immunity during his mandate, a President of the Republic then becomes a normal citizen again. So he will submit to it, but with bad grace. He has also referred the matter to the European Court of Human Rights, which is also a first: a former president filing a complaint against his country, it feels like a dictatorship in an operetta.
But the appeal is not suspensive and therefore Sarkozy will not escape humiliation. Especially since other legal troubles await him around the corner. From January 6, he will be tried for 4 months for the financing of his 2007 presidential campaign which was allegedly carried out in part by Colonel Gaddafi.
We are far from the conviction which earned him the electronic bracelet, that is to say the obtaining of judicial information concerning him against the promotion of a French magistrate in Monaco. Accusation revealed by telephone tapping between Nicolas Sarkozy alias Paul Bismuth and his lawyer.
So, will this harm the prestige of the position? That would surprise me, because there are precedents. Thus, in 1887, the President of the Republic at the time, Jules Grévy, had to resign because of the so-called decorations affair. His son-in-law, a deputy, Daniel Wilson, who lived with his family at the Élysée, had organized a legion of honor smuggling there. In exchange for considerable sums, of the order of 100,000 francs, he obtained the precious cross from notables, civil or military, who invested in his businesses.
The scandal was enormous and even gave rise to a play and a song “ah, what a misfortune to have a son-in-law”! For the record, know that Grévy’s predecessor, Marshal Mac Mahon, was also forced to resign because he was unable to form a government. His successor, Sadi Carnot, was assassinated. In short, the Republic has seen others.
As for Nicolas Sarkozy, don’t worry, he will surely obtain exemptions to go to his office as ex-president, and even exceptionally to travel abroad.
Although I know someone who would have agreed to spend a year at home without going out, locked up, with Carla Bruni.
nicolas sarkozy Signed Giltay
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