The three-year prison sentence for Nicolas Sarkozythe second in a few weeks. The Court of Cassation rejected the defense's appeal and the former French president was found guilty of corruption of a magistrate and influence peddling in the now famous Bismuth case. An unprecedented sanction for a former French Head of State, comment by observers from beyond the Alps, which confirms the sentence of the Court of Appeal of May 2023. Of the three years in prison, one will be without parole and with the benefit of an electronic bracelet, which will be applied next month. But in just a month Sarkozy will turn 70 and will be able to request to be exempt. The bitterness and sense of profound injustice of the former Head of State and his wife Carla Bruni remain, who have expressed their thoughts on social media in the aftermath of the conviction.
Nicolas Sarkozy sentenced to three years in prison
“So I have just been convicted of a so-called 'corruption pact' with someone – Judge Azibert – who I have not spoken to, without any compensation financial or any kind. He reproaches me for thinking of helping a candidacy that was never formulated, with an intervention that was never made, in exchange for a service that was never requested or rendered! Finally, everything is based on fragments of conversations between a lawyer and his client, which are confidential by nature… .” writes Nicolas Sarkozy, who according to the court would have entered into a “corruption pact” with the magistrate Gilbert Azibert in 2014, together with his historic lawyer, Thierry Herzog, so that the latter would communicate information to him and try to influence the magistrates on an appeal by Sarkozy in another matter, that of the case Bettencourt. A mobile phone registered to Paul Bismuth, former partner of the lawyer Herzog, was used for the operation. In exchange the judge was promised help for an honorary position in the Principality of Monaco.
The magistrate never obtained the desired protection and the three defendants always denied wrongdoing, yet the court found Sarkozy guilty. “As I have always done during these 12 long years of judicial harassment, I will assume my responsibilities and face all the consequences” says the former president. “It is not my intention to complain. I am so aware that I have been favored in many ways by life. But I am not determined to accept the profound injustice that has been done to me. My rights as a litigant have been violated both in light of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and that of the Constitutional Council”. The long message posted on social media continues as follows: “I want to reiterate my perfect innocence and remain convinced of my right. My determination is total on this issue as on others. The truth will triumph in the end. At that point, everyone will have to give an account before to the French people”.
The message was shared on social media by Carla Bruni, who in all these years has never doubted her husband's innocence, but has always defended and supported him. Married since 2008, the top model and the former president are a stainless couple, also united by their love for their thirteen-year-old daughter Giulia. The première dame will continue to support her husband even in the appeal that will be made to the European Court of Human Rights. As explained by the lawyer Patrice Spinosi to Tgcom24 “it is the first time in France that a person has been convicted solely on the basis of intercepted telephone communications with his lawyer. Interception between a lawyer and his client cannot be used against the customer himself, it is a rule that is part of fundamental freedoms and which justifies our appeal”.
Carla and Nicolas have been linked since 2008.
And while the final word on the Bismuth case will be up to the ECtHR, a new trial awaits Sarko in 2025. The former French president will have to answer for charges of alleged Libyan financing of the presidential campaign in 2007. She was placed under investigation for the case and Carla Bruni was also released under judicial supervision for “concealment of witness corruption” and “association to prepare crimes of judicial fraud and corruption of foreign public agents”. For better or worse, Carla and Nicolas remain the most talked about couple in France.
