From the BBC:
“Sarkozy:
Former French president sentenced to jail for corruption”
French
ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to three years in jail, two of
them suspended, for corruption. He was convicted of trying to bribe a judge in
2014 - after he'd left office - by suggesting he could secure a prestigious job
for him in return for information about a separate case. Sarkozy, 66, is the
first former French president to get a custodial sentence. His lawyer says he will appeal. Sarkozy will
remain free during that process which could take years. In the ruling, Judge
Christine Mée said the conservative politician "knew what [he] was doing
was wrong", adding that his actions and those of his lawyer had given the
public "a very bad image of justice". The crimes were specified as
influence-peddling and violation of professional secrecy. It is a legal
landmark for post-war France. The only precedent was the trial of Sarkozy's
predecessor Jacques Chirac, who got a two-year suspended sentence in 2011 for
having arranged bogus jobs at Paris City Hall for allies when he was Paris
mayor. Chirac died in 2019. If Sarkozy's appeal is unsuccessful, he could serve
a year at home with an electronic tag, rather than go to prison.
Who is
Nicolas Sarkozy? Nicolas Sarkozy served one five-year term as president
from 2007. He adopted tough anti-immigration policies and sought to reform
France's economy during a presidency overshadowed by the global financial
crisis. Critics nicknamed him "bling-bling", seeing his
leadership style as too brash, celebrity-driven and hyperactive for a role
steeped in tradition and grandeur. His celebrity image was reinforced by
his marriage to supermodel and singer Carla Bruni in 2008. In 2012 he lost his
re-election bid to Socialist François Hollande. Since then he has been
targeted by several criminal investigations. In 2017 he tried to make a
political comeback, but failed as his centre-right Les Républicains party chose
another presidential candidate instead.
What is the
corruption case about? Sarkozy was on trial with two co-defendants, his
lawyer Thierry Herzog and Gilbert Azibert, a senior judge. The case
centred on phone conversations between Sarkozy and Herzog that were taped by
police in 2014. Investigators were looking into claims that Sarkozy had
accepted illicit payments from the L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt for his
2007 presidential campaign. The prosecution convinced the court that
Sarkozy and Herzog had sought to bribe Azibert with a prestigious job in Monaco
in return for information about that investigation. French media
reported that Sarkozy was heard telling Herzog: "I'll get him promoted,
I'll help him." The phone line police tapped was a secret number
set up in a fictional name, Paul Bismuth, through which Sarkozy communicated
with his lawyer On Monday Herzog and Azibert were also sentenced to three years
in jail, two of them suspended.
Analysis box
by Hugh Schofield, Paris correspondent Nicolas Sarkozy is no stranger to
legal investigations - since he left the presidency he has been the object of
half a dozen - but up until now his record sheet has been clean. There was
plenty of mud, but none of it stuck. Half an hour in a courtroom in
Paris's new Palais de Justice changed all that. Judge Mée read out a verdict
that spared nothing, and no-one. Sarkozy, Thierry Herzog and Gilbert Azibert
all knew perfectly well what they were doing, she said. They were
trading confidential information for professional favours. And that was
corruption in any book. It is not the end of the affair, by any stretch.
The appeal could take years. His team will continue to argue that the case
rested on ill-gotten evidence - chance eavesdroppings on confidential
phone-chats between a man and his lawyer. But from today Sarkozy cuts a
different figure. Before he was the wronged ex-president, fighting back against
a left-wing judicial cabal. Now he has been convicted in a court of law.
What other
accusations is Sarkozy facing? He is due to go on trial next month over the
so-called Bygmalion affair, in which he is accused of having overspent in his
unsuccessful 2012 campaign. Prosecutors are also investigating claims
that Sarkozy received funding for his 2007 campaign from Libya's then-leader
Muammar Gaddafi. Sarkozy has already been cleared in connection with the
Bettencourt case. He had said all investigations against him were politically
motivated. Despite his legal woes he has remained popular in right-wing
circles, a year away from another presidential election.
^ It was
surprising to see the Former French President sentenced for his crimes (it
would be nice if other countries could do the same for their’s.) ^
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