Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was also sentenced on appeal to a three-year prison sentence, one year of which was unconditional. The court found him guilty of corruption and bribery. Report that various French media. Sarkozy appealed because he denies the allegations. Nevertheless, the court in Paris upheld the previously imposed sentence on Wednesday.
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Sarkozy does not have to go to jail immediately: he can spend the year at home with an electronic ankle bracelet. The 68-year-old Sarkozy, leader of France between 2007 and 2012, is the first (former) president to be sentenced to an unconditional prison sentence. He was convicted in the so-called wiretapping case, in which telephone conversations between Sarkozy and his lawyer were tapped. This revealed, among other things, that Sarkozy’s lawyer had bought a telephone for his client under a false name, in order to remain out of sight of the police and the judiciary.
Earlier, the court found Sarkozy guilty of bribery. Similarly, the tapped conversations showed that he and his lawyer had promised a major appointment to a magistrate in exchange for sharing information about another case. Sarkozy was wiretapped for alleged illegal financing of his election campaign by former Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi. Justice previously demanded four years in prison, two of which were conditional.