Nicolas Sarkozy sentenced to a year in prison for corruption

A Paris court found former French President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling in the wiretapping case and sentenced him to three years in prison, two of which were suspended, Reuters . reports

The prosecutor's office asked to give the ex-president four years in prison and two of them on probation. Sarkozy himself pleaded not guilty, saying he was the victim of a "witch hunt" by prosecutors who, in his opinion, used excessive means for surveillance, reports Reuters.

One year of real time, to which the court sentenced Sarkozy, he will be able to serve at home under electronic surveillance, . BFMTV reported, citing the court

Sarkozy was accused of bribing at that time the judge of the French Court of Cassation Gilbert Aziber. According to investigators, the former president, through his lawyer Thierry Erzog, promised to help Aziber with his appointment to a position in Monaco. In exchange, Sarkozy wanted to receive information about the wiretapping put on his phone as part of the case of illegal financing of his presidential campaign by the daughter of the founder of L'Oreal, Liliane Bettencourt. In this case, the ex-president was acquitted.

As evidence, the investigation cited recordings of intercepted telephone conversations between Sarkozy and Erzog in 2013-2014. Although the interlocutors did not call each other by name on the recordings and Sarkozy used the pseudonym Paul Bismuth, the examination established that it was the ex-president on the recording. Sarkozy's defense insisted that "it was just friendly chatter" and the prosecutor's office had no reason to conclude that the former president was hinting at a violation of the laws.

• Sarkozy, who led France from 2007 to 2012, became the country's first ex-president to receive a real term, and the second in modern French history to be convicted of corruption. In 2011, on this charge, the court sentenced Sarkozy's predecessor to the presidency, Jacques Chirac, to two years' probation. The President of France from 1995 to 2007 died in September 2019.

• On January 15 , it became known that a criminal case related to Russia was opened against Sarkozy. He was suspected of illegally promoting the interests of the Russian insurance company RESO-Garantia. Sarkozy is also under investigation over allegations that he accepted €50 million from former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to illegally fund his 2007 elections.