The magistrates determined the same prison sentence handed down in the first instance trial, in March 2021. The conservative former president then became the first former president of the Fifth Republic sentenced to prison with the requirement to serve part of the sentence.
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Sarkozy, 68, will be able to serve his sentence under house arrest with the use of an electronic ankle bracelet. He heard the decision in the dock at the Paris court with a tense expression.
“Nicolas Sarkozy is innocent,” declared lawyer Jacqueline Laffont, before announcing that she will appeal to the Court of Cassation against the sentence, which also includes the loss of the former president's political rights for three years, meaning he will not You can vote or be a candidate.
The case began in 2014, when the former president's phones were being tapped by the courts for another investigation into the alleged Libyan financing of his electoral campaign in 2007.
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Investigators then discovered the existence of a third telephone line under the pseudonym “Paul Bismuth”, which he used without fear of being overheard to talk to his lawyer and friend Thierry Herzog.
The indictment claims that the two organized a corruption deal with Gilbert Azibert, prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, who allegedly offered his help in a case in exchange for a prestigious position in Monaco.
Sarkozy then wanted the high court to annul the seizure of his presidential diaries, ordered as part of the investigation into the abuse of the fragility of the heiress of the L'Oréal group, Liliane Bettencourt.
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Throughout the trial, the defense denounced an accusation built on the “quicksand” of “illegal” wiretapping and without “probative value”.
Herzog and Azibert were also sentenced to the same sentence as Sarkozy for establishing a “corruption pact” in 2014 and intend to appeal to the Court of Cassation. Herzog will not be able to work as a lawyer for three years.
Next court hearing in November
Sarkozy is still the target of other investigations. The Public Prosecutor's Office requested the trial of the former president and 12 other people on suspicions that his victorious electoral campaign in 2007 was partially financed by the then Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi.
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Two investigating judges must now decide whether to prosecute the former president for passive corruption, criminal association, illegal campaign financing and concealment of embezzlement of Libyan public resources, as the Prosecutor's Office wishes.
Starting in November, the husband of singer, model and actress Carla Bruni will also be tried again in the Bygmalion case, which has already resulted in a one-year prison sentence in the first instance.
This process is related to the accounts of the 2012 presidential campaign, which the then president lost to the socialist François Hollande.
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Although Sarkozy is the first former French president to be sentenced to prison, his predecessor, also conservative Jacques Chirac (1995-2007), was sentenced to two years in prison with suspended sentence for fictitious hiring of officials when he was mayor of Paris.
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