PARIS – Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced on Monday to three years in prison for corruption and influence peddling, making him the first former president of the country to be sentenced to jail time.
The Paris Correctional Court specified that two of those years in prison are exempt from compliance and that the third year of firm prison can be converted into house arrest or surveillance with an electronic bracelet.
The court also sentenced the former president’s lawyer, Thierry Herzog, to a similar sentence, who was also disqualified from practicing law for five years, and senior magistrate Gilbert Azibert.
The penalties are somewhat lower than what the Prosecutor’s Office had claimed, which was asking for two firm years in prison against the three defendants.
The judges considered it proven that a corruption pact existed to benefit Sarkozy’s judicial interests in other cases opened after his departure from the Elysee in 2012.
These actions came to light in telephone conversations intervened by the police in 2014 between Sarkozy and his lawyer, in which it emerged that they had contacted Azibert, then a member of the Supreme Court, to obtain information in another case opened against the former president. change from helping the magistrate to secure a post in Monaco.
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The sentence includes the “particular gravity” of the crime committed by Sarkozy due to his condition as former president, who “used his position and his relationships” for “his personal interest”, which discredits a position that, by the Constitution , grants you the balancing power of justice.
In addition, the verdict includes, Sarkozy had to know the infractions committed due to his status as a lawyer by training.
He was also very harsh against Herzog, one of the most prestigious lawyers in Paris, and against Azibert, whom he accused of “discrediting a profession whose function is basic in democracy.”
The historic conviction of Sarkozy, who can appeal the sentence, comes two weeks before another process is opened in which the former president is involved, that of the alleged irregularities about the financing of his campaign for the 2012 presidential elections.