Former French President Nicole Sarkozy was found guilty of signing a corruption contract with a senior judge of the Court of Cassation in order to influence the trial against him.
Today, the Court of Cassation in Paris upheld a Court of Appeal decision against Nicolas Sarkozy, 69, who sentenced him to three years in prison, including one year of real imprisonment (while wearing an electronic bracelet), for corruption and suppressing investigations.
According to the French media, the former head of state was found guilty of signing a "corruption contract" with his lawyer Thierry Herzog in 2014 with the senior judge of the Court of Cassation, Gilbert Azibert, in order to obtain information and influence another case in which he was involved. .
All three were sentenced to three years in prison, as well as a three-year ban on their previous activities.
The Court of Cassation (France's highest court), which is responsible for ensuring the proper application of the law, thus ruled out any judicial misconduct during this lengthy trial.
Sarkozy will now be summoned to appear before a correctional judge to have his electronic bracelet fitted.
His lawyer said that the politician will obey the decision of the Court of Cassation, but will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, claiming his innocence. In particular, lawyers dispute the legality of the wiretapping of Nicolas Sarkozy, arguing that his private conversations with Thierry Herzog cannot be "used against him".
"Nicolas Sarkozy cannot be convicted on the basis of conversations with his lawyer," claimed his lawyer Patrice Spinozi, referring to the decision of the European Court of Human Rights of June 16, 2016.
Let's add that the trial against Nicolas Sarkozy began in November 2020 on the suspicion that he, while already president, tried to influence the investigation of the donations of L'Oreal cosmetic company co-owner, billionaire Lilian Betancourt, using that money to finance his 2007 election campaign.
In 2013, Sarkozy was acquitted of this charge, but his phone conversations with his lawyer, which were intercepted as part of the investigation of another case, allowed the investigation to obtain new evidence.
Earlier, in 2021, Sarkozy was sentenced to three years in prison, two years of which were suspended. He was forced to spend another year under house arrest and wear an electronic bracelet.On May 17, 2023, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld this sentence.
In September 2021, Sarkozy was also sentenced to one year in prison in the so-called "Bigmalion case" for illegal financing of the 2012 election campaign (actually exceeding the legal expenditure threshold of 22.5 million euros).
Nicolas Sarkozy was the president of France in 2007-2012. He became the first head of state in the country's history who was actually imprisoned, and the second who was convicted. In 2011, the former French President Jacques Chirac was sentenced to two years of suspended prison, accused of creating fictitious jobs in the municipality between 1990 and 1995, when he was the mayor of Paris.
A new trial against Sarkozy is set to begin on January 6 over allegations that Libya financed the 2007 presidential campaign.
Translation:hraparak.am:
