French Supreme Court confirms sentence of three years, two of which will be suspended.
Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of having offered a judge a plum job in exchange for confidential information related to another trial he was facing. | Luke Dray/Getty Images
December 18, 2024 7:15 pm CET
PARIS — Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be placed under house arrest after the French Supreme Court confirmed previous verdicts that had found the 69-year-old guilty of corruption.
“The French Supreme Court has upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal which found a politician, his lawyer and a magistrate guilty of corruption, influence peddling and breach of professional secrecy,” the Supreme Court wrote in a statement.
Sarkozy was found guilty of having offered a judge a plum job in exchange for confidential information related to another trial he was facing. The judge, Gilbert Azibert, and Sarkozy’s lawyer Thierry Herzog were also sentenced.
Sarkozy was sentenced to three years in jail, two of which were suspended.
He will now be summoned before a separate judge who will define the conditions under which the former French president, who has kept close ties with many elected officials, will serve his one-year prison sentence under house arrest.
Sarkozy is appealing the ruling before the European Court of Human Rights, but the conservative leader said he would “accept [his] responsibilities and deal with all the consequences” in a post on X, while continuing to call out what he alleged was a “profound injustice.”
The corruption was uncovered after investigators wiretapped conversations between Sarkozy and Herzog as they were examining allegations that Sarkozy’s first presidential campaign in 2007 received funding from Muammar Gaddafi’s Libyan regime. Those allegations will bring Sarkozy back before the court, with a new trial set to open on Jan. 6.
In a third case earlier this year, Sarkozy was sentenced to six months in prison with six months suspended over alleged overspending during his 2012 reelection campaign. He has appealed that decision before the supreme court, which is expected to rule next year.
Sarkozy continues to claim innocence in all the cases he faces.
