Sarkozy’s lawyer says the previous president plans to enchantment the decision to the European Court docket of Human Rights.
France’s highest court docket has upheld the 2021 conviction of former President Nicolas Sarkozy on fees of corruption and affect peddling.
The Court docket of Cassation issued its determination on Wednesday.
Sarkozy had appealed towards the conviction, for which he had been handed a three-year jail sentence. Two of the years have been suspended, and Sarkozy is to put on an digital monitoring bracelet as a substitute of going to jail for the remaining yr.
Sarkozy’s lawyer Patrick Spinosi mentioned that the previous president plans to enchantment the decision to the European Court docket of Human Rights.
“The problem that I shall be bringing to the European Court docket of Human Rights might, alas, result in a condemnation towards France,” Sarkozy wrote on the social media platform X.
“I wish to as soon as once more state that I’m clearly harmless,” he added.
Spinosi confirmed that Sarkozy will adjust to the court docket’s determination and put on an digital tag.
Sarkozy, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, was discovered responsible by a decrease court docket of attempting to bribe a decide and buying and selling affect for confidential details about an investigation into his 2007 marketing campaign funds.
The court docket decided that Sarkozy conspired to safe a job for Choose Gilbert Azibert in Monaco in change for inside info on an inquiry into allegations that Sarkozy had obtained unlawful funds from L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt. Azibert was additionally convicted of corruption and affect peddling.
Along with this case, Sarkozy, who retired from public life in 2017, faces additional corruption fees. He’s to face trial subsequent yr for alleged unlawful financing of his 2007 presidential marketing campaign with claims that it received funding from the Libyan government. Sarkozy denies all of the allegations. If convicted, he might resist 10 years in jail.
Sarkozy’s conviction makes him solely the second French president in trendy historical past to be discovered responsible of corruption fees. Jacques Chirac, his conservative predecessor, was convicted of corruption in 2011, 4 years after leaving workplace.
