The Court of Cassation made the sentence final Nicolas Sarkozyrejecting the appeal of the former French president’s lawyers in the past wiretapping case. The sentence issued is a 3 years in prison, one of which without parolewith the benefit of electronic bracelet. The accusation made against the politician is related to corruption of magistrates and influence peddling. According to what has been observed, Sarkozy’s sentence would be an unprecedented sentence for a former French head of state.
Nicolas Sarkozy therefore saw his last appeal rejected by the Court of Cassation. His lawyers have therefore communicated that their client “conforms logically” to the final sentence. At the same time, however, an appeal was announced European Court of Human Rights.
I Spip technicians they will install the entire device at the former president’s house. In a month the penalty of one year of limitation of freedom with the provision of the electronic bracelet should be applied. In truth, in just a month Sarkozy will turn 70 and will therefore be able to ask not to discount the year of electronic bracelet. But Sarkozy’s judicial troubles continue. The former French head of state, in fact, could find himself in the middle of a trial that will begin on January 6, on suspicion of Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign.
The background
The case of the wiretaps referred to is the affair commonly known as “Bismuth“, used by the former president for confidential contacts. In this episode, in 2014 Sarkozy was found guilty of having entered into a “corruption pact” with a senior magistrate at the Court of Cassation, Gilbert Azibert, together with his lawyer, Thierry Herzog. The agreement was born so that he would communicate information to him and try to influence the magistrates on another appeal by Sarkozy, namely the Bettencourt case.
It seems that everything had happened in exchange for a honorary position promised to the judge in the Principality of Monaco. The crimes that emerged have always been denied by the three defendants, underlining that the trafficking of influence, in truth, did not occur as the magistrate never obtained the desired protection.
Such wiretaps were retained illegal by the defense, together with the entire procedure, despite having been validated several times by various authorities. Facts that were then included among the 20 arguments advanced by Sarkozy’s defense, still reporting the actual legality of these practices. During the final hearing which took place today, the general prosecutor recommended rejecting all the arguments put forward by the defense lawyers and therefore confirming the sentences.
An unprecedented case
“It is the first time in France that a person has been convicted solely on the basis of telephone communications with his lawyer, which were intercepted“, this is how Patrice Spinosi, the former president’s lawyer, comments on what happened to his defender. “The interceptions – continues Spinosi – between a lawyer and his client cannot be used against the client himself, it is a rule that is part of the fundamental freedoms and which justifies our appeal“. In merit thereof, “the appeal to the European Court is explained by the fact that the jurisprudence of the Court itself is contrary to what was established today by the French Supreme Court, which rejected Nicolas Sarkozy’s appeal“.
