The Court of Cassation confirmed the conviction for corruption of magistrate and influence trafficking to 3 years in prison, one of which without parole, with the benefit of an electronic bracelet. The former president of the French Republic, therefore, will not go to prison but will be forced to wear the bracelet for the next year. Reached by journalists, he is ready to “face the consequences“, while reiterating its own “total innocence“. As an additional penalty, Sarkozy was also given a three-year political ban.
The judges considered admissible the evidence that led to the conviction in 2021 at first instance, and in 2023 on appeal, according to which he would have exploited his position to try to obtain information about an investigation judicial proceedings concerning him. Those considered intermediaries, lawyer Thierry Herzog and former judge Gilbert Azibert, were also convicted. In the conclusions of the Court of Cassation it is underlined that it was not possible demonstrate the bias of the judges in the previous trial and ruled out the suppression of the wiretap evidence which brought the entire political-judicial scheme to light.
For the first time, a French president has been given a criminal sentence requiring an electronic bracelet. His lawyers have already made it known that Sarkozy “will respect” the sentence but will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. “Nicolas Sarkozy will obviously comply with the sanction imposed, which is now definitive“explained lawyer Patrice Spinosi to AFP. However, “in the coming weeks he will address the European courtas is now his right, to obtain the guarantee of rights which the French judges denied him“.
There are few words spoken by the former president after the sentence. Sarkozy has, first of all, wanted “reiterate mine perfect innocence” and then he talked about “profound injustice” regarding the sentence. The investigation that resulted in the conviction originates from another judicial investigation, that on alleged Libyan financing of Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign, a case for which the former Head of State will be tried in early 2025. During conversations dating back to 2013 and 2014, investigators and justice ascertained an act of corruption.
Sarkozy’s legal historian, Thierry Herzog, had requested the former president’s support for get a job in Munich for an acquaintance, Gilbert Azibert. In exchange, the latter, then a magistrate of the Court of Cassation, would have to provide information covered by judicial secrecy.
