On Monday, March 1, a Paris court found former French President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence-peddling and sentenced him to three years in prison, two of them suspended, as was reported by The Guardian.
France’s president from 2007 to 2012 had played an “active role” in forging a “corruption pact” with his lawyer and a senior magistrate to obtain information on a separate investigation into political donations, the leading judge declared, and there was “serious and concurring evidence” of collaboration between the three men to break the law.
Nicolas Sarcozy
The 66-year-old Sarkozy is the first president to have been sentenced to jail in France's modern history. The conviction was the culmination of just one of several long-running legal entanglements that are coming to a head for the politician. Mr Sarkozy has always denied any wrongdoing and he quickly announced he would appeal.
The Paris prosecutor had requested a two-year prison sentence and a two-year suspended sentence for Sarkozy and his co-defendants, his lawyer Thierry Herzog and former magistrate Gilbert Azibert. Herzog and Azibert were found guilty and handed prison sentences.
According to New York Times, Sarkozy still holds considerable sway among French conservatives, but the conviction could undermine his broader standing in French politics and dash any hopes of mounting yet another comeback ahead of the 2022 presidential elections — especially for a politician who has fashioned himself as particularly tough on crime.
Mr Sarkozy was found guilty of trying to illegally obtain information on another case against him from a judge in return for promises to use his influence to secure a prestigious job for the judge in Monaco.