(Adnkronos) – The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was definitively sentenced today, 18 December, for corruption and influence peddling to a one-year sentence with an electronic bracelet, the first time for a former French president, he will “respect” the sentence but will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. His lawyer, Patrice Spinosi, declared this to AFP.
“Nicolas Sarkozy will obviously comply with the sanction imposed, which is now definitive,” commented Spinosi. “At the same time, in the coming weeks he will turn to the European Court, as is now his right, to obtain the guarantee of the rights that the French judges have denied him,” he added.
Sarkozy expressed his disappointment in a Facebook post. “As I have always done in these 12 long years of judicial harassment, I will assume my responsibilities and face all the consequences – he wrote -. But I am not willing to accept the profound injustice that has been done to me. My rights have been violated, both in terms of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and that of the Constitutional Council.”
Finally, the former French president wanted to “reaffirm my total innocence and I remain convinced of my right to do so”. “My determination is total, in this case as in others. The truth will triumph in the end,” the post concludes.
The conviction was confirmed today by the French Court of Cassation. The court did not change the measures taken against Sarkozy, who maintained a three-year suspended sentence and will avoid prison for another year, provided he agrees to submit to electronic surveillance. The measure also entails political disqualification for three years. The former president has other open court cases.
The French judiciary therefore considers it proven that Sarzoky, convicted at first instance in 2021 and on appeal in 2023, exploited his position to try to obtain information on a judicial investigation concerning him. The intermediaries, lawyer Thierry Herzog and former judge Gilbert Azibert, were also convicted.
