France's highest appeals court on Wednesday confirmed a verdict against former president Nicolas Sarkozy for corruption and influence peddling, ordering him to wear an electronic tag for a year, a first for a former head of state.
This is an unprecedented sanction for a former French head of state.
Nicolas Sarkozy will "evidently" respect the terms of the conviction after the Court of Cassation's verdict, his lawyer Patrice Spinosi told French news agency AFP.
But he will take the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) within weeks, Spinozi added.
This action at the Strasbourg-based ECHR will not prevent Wednesday's verdict from being enforced. The sanction now takes effect, as Sarkozy has exhausted all legal options available to him in France.
Spinosi said it was a "sad day" when "a former president is required to take action before European judges to have condemned a state over whose destiny he once presided".
"I want to reiterate my complete innocence," Sarkozy said after the trial, adding he would not accept "profound injustice" after the court verdict.
Other cases
This latest case, often dubbed "Bismuth", comes on top of separate cases about campaign financing overspending, and the alleged financing by Libya of Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign.
Sarkozy had earlier been found guilty of illegal attempts to secure favours from a judge.
In 2021, a lower court found that he and his former lawyer, Thierry Herzog, had formed a "corruption pact" with judge Gilbert Azibert to obtain and share information about a legal investigation.
The court then sentenced him to a three-year jail term, two of which were suspended and one that was to take the form of home detention with an electronic tag allowing his movements to be monitored.
That verdict had already been upheld once, by an appeals court, last year.
He is also suspected of conspiring to take cash from Libya's Kadhafi to illegally fund his victorious 2007 bid for the presidency.
Bygmalion, Libya, Bismuth: the trials and tribulations of Nicolas Sarkozy
Fall of a former president
Sarkozy, 69, has always claimed his innocence, with his lawyer saying he would "not give up this fight".
Despite his legal problems, he continues to enjoy considerable influence and popularity on the right of French politics and is said to have the ear of President Emmanuel Macron.
Sources have told AFP however that Sarkozy held talks at the Elysee earlier this month in a bid to persuade Macron not to appoint veteran centrist Francois Bayrou as prime minister, but Macron went ahead and named him.
The right-winger, who was president for one term between 2007 and 2012, failing to win re-election, has been embroiled in legal troubles ever since leaving office.
(with AFP)
