French ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy’s prison sentence for corruption upheld

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to three years in prison, with one year to be served immediately, for corruption and influence peddling in the wiretapping case.

Sarkozy, the first former head of state to be sentenced to an effective prison term, will not be sentenced to prison after the court specified in his conviction that he can serve his sentence under house arrest and with an electronic bracelet.

His lawyer said he will take the case to France’s highest court and insisted that Sarkozy is innocent.

“Nicolas Sarkozy is innocent of the accusations he is accused of,” said Jacqueline Laffont. “We will pursue this with force. We will continue before the Court of Cassation, we will go to the end of the judicial road if necessary.”

The former president was first sentenced to three years in prison in March 2021 for a crime committed in 2014, two years after leaving power, for using his influence to obtain benefits in another case. 

Sarkozy, who was president from 2007 to 2012, denies wrongdoing and appealed the original ruling.