December 18, 2024
Paris, 18 December. (askanews) – Convicted of corruption of a magistrate and influence peddling: the former president of the French Republic Nikolas Sarkozy will have to serve a three-year sentence, one of which without parole, but with the benefit of the electronic bracelet, which however should be pardoned for age reasons.
The Court of Cassation rejected the appeal against the final sentence on appeal. Sarkozy is not the only former French head of state to end up in court for corruption but he is the first to have been given a sentence of this type even if he will not actually serve the sentence: next year he will turn seventy and will be able then ask that the bracelet not be put on him.
Sarkozy’s lawyers have announced an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, stating that it is the first time in France that a person has been convicted solely on the basis of wiretaps of telephone calls between client and lawyer, which should be subject to confidentiality . Lawyer Patrice Spinosi, who defines Sarkozy as “calm and determined”, explains: “he is obliged to start another appeal and seek justice in a higher forum but since the sentence is final he will comply with the judges’ decision”.
The case is known as Bismuth, the name Sarkozy used for his confidential contacts. The former conservative president, at the Elysée from 2007 to 2012, husband of the singer and actress Carla Bruni, was found guilty of having had a corruption pact with a senior magistrate of the Supreme Court starting from 2014 with his long-time lawyer because he news passed on about another case in which he is involved, the so-called Bettancourt affair. In exchange, according to the judges, he was promised an honorary position in the principality of Monaco.
But Sarkozy reacted immediately on favored by life from many points of view.”
