Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy Sentenced to Prison for Corruption
French ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to three years in jail, two of them suspended, for corruption.
He was convicted of trying to bribe a judge in 2014 - after
he had left office - by suggesting he could secure a prestigious job for him in
return for information about a separate case.
Sarkozy, 66, is the first former French president to get a
custodial sentence.
His lawyer says he will appeal. Sarkozy will remain free
during that process which could take years.
In the ruling, Judge Christine Mée said the conservative
politician "knew what [he] was doing was wrong", adding that his
actions and those of his lawyer had given the public "a very bad image of
justice".
The crimes were specified as influence-peddling and
violation of professional secrecy.
It is a legal landmark for post-war France. The only
precedent was the trial of Sarkozy's predecessor Jacques Chirac, who got a
two-year suspended sentence in 2011 for having arranged bogus jobs at Paris
City Hall for allies when he was Paris mayor. Chirac died in 2019.
If Sarkozy's appeal is unsuccessful, he could serve a year
at home with an electronic tag, rather than go to prison.
His wife, supermodel and singer Carla Bruni, reacted by
describing the case as "senseless persecution", adding that "the
fight continued, and truth would come out".
Nicolas Sarkozy served one five-year term as president from
2007. He adopted tough anti-immigration policies and sought to reform France's
economy during a presidency overshadowed by the global financial crisis.
Critics nicknamed him "bling-bling", seeing his
leadership style as too brash, celebrity-driven and hyperactive for a role
steeped in tradition and grandeur.
His celebrity image was reinforced by his marriage to Bruni
in 2008. In 2012 he lost his re-election bid to Socialist François Hollande.
Since then he has been targeted by several criminal
investigations.
In 2017 he tried to make a political comeback, but failed as
his centre-right Les Républicains party chose another presidential candidate
instead.
What is the corruption case about?
Sarkozy was on trial with two co-defendants, his lawyer
Thierry Herzog and Gilbert Azibert, a senior judge.
The case centred on phone conversations between Sarkozy and
Herzog that were taped by police in 2014.
Investigators were looking into claims that Sarkozy had
accepted illicit payments from the L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt for his
2007 presidential campaign.
The prosecution convinced the court that Sarkozy and Herzog
had sought to bribe Azibert with a prestigious job in Monaco in return for
information about that investigation.
French media reported that Sarkozy was heard telling Herzog:
"I'll get him promoted, I'll help him."
The phone line police tapped was a secret number set up in a
fictional name, Paul Bismuth, through which Sarkozy communicated with his
lawyer.
On Monday Herzog and Azibert were also sentenced to three
years in jail, two of them suspended.
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