Former French president to wear tracking tag after ‘corruption pact’
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy must wear an electronic monitoring tag for a year after charges of corruption and influence peddling charges were upheld by the country’s highest appeals court.
It is the first time a former head of state has been sentenced to wearing a tracking tag, according to French news agency AFP.
Sarkozy had been appealing a 2021 ruling that found him guilty of illegal attempts to secure favours from a judge.
The court found that Sarkozy and his former lawyer, Thierry Herzog, had formed a “corruption pact” with judge Gilbert Azibert to obtain and share information about a legal investigation.
He was sentenced to a three-year jail term, two of which were suspended and one that was to take the form of home detention with an electronic tag allowing his movements to be monitored.
Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to appeal the latest ruling to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. (Reuters: Vincent Kessler)
His latest appeal, in the Court of Cassation, failed after the judge upheld previous rulings against Sarkozy.
It is the second time an appeals court has upheld the guilty verdict.
His lawyer, Patrice Spinosi, described the verdict as a “sad day” and that Mr Sarkozy would take up the case at the European Court of Human Rights in coming weeks.
Sarkozy has always claimed his innocence, and on Wednesday said he was “not ready to accept the profound injustice that is being done to me”.
Sarkozy is France’s first post-war president to have been sentenced to serve time.
The right-winger, who was president for one term between 2007 and 2012, failed to win re-election.
He has been embroiled in legal troubles ever since leaving office.
The latest case, dubbed “Bismuth”, comes on top of separate cases about campaign financing overspending, and the alleged financing by Libya of Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign.
Despite his legal problems, Sarkozy continues to enjoy considerable influence and popularity on the right of French politics and has the ear of President Emmanuel Macron, with whom he is known to meet on occasion.
AFP
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