Sarkozy, three years in prison: the first time for a former president

Actuality

Of Dave Hill Cirio – December 18, 2024

The prison is the first time this has happened for a former French president: Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to 3 years in prison for corruption of a magistrate and influence peddling, one of which without parole, with the benefit of an electronic bracelet. The Court of Cassation in fact rejected the appeal of Sarkozy’s lawyers against the final sentence on appeal. That of Sarkozy, 69 years old, is an unprecedented sentence for a former French head of state.

In a month he should be subject to a one-year sentence of limitation of his freedom with the provision of an electronic bracelet. In reality, in just a month the former president will turn 70 and will be able to ask not to serve the year of the electronic bracelet.

In the affair commonly known by the name of “Bismuth”, used by the former president for his confidential contacts, Sarkozy was found guilty of having entered into, in 2014, together with his long-time lawyer, Thierry Herzog, a “corruption pact ” with Gilbert Azibert, senior magistrate at the Court of Cassation, so that he could communicate information to him and try to influence the magistrates on an appeal by Sarkozy in another matter, that of the Bettencourt case.

This was in exchange for “a helping hand” promised to the judge for an honorary position in the principality of Monaco. The three defendants have always denied the wrongdoing, recalling that the influence peddling had never materialized because the magistrate had never obtained the desired protection. Sarkozy’s lawyers have now announced that their client “logically complies” with the final sentence. At the same time they announced an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

Always Sarkozy – his wife is the Italian supermodel Carla Bruni, who often stands out in campaigns in favor of her husband – was the protagonist of the “first time” of a former French president being held in custody: he was subjected to it for 15 hours in Nanterre in 2014, again for corruption. Four years after a real arrest, for 25 hours, on March 20, 2018, on charges of having received illicit financing from Gaddafi.

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