Sarkozy jailed for 3 years in corruption case
A French appeals court on Wednesday upheld a three-year prison sentence for former French President Nicolas Sarkozy in a corruption case.
The former French president lost an appeal against a 2021 conviction in a corruption and influence peddling case before the Paris Court of Appeal on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
The court upheld Sarkozy's three-year prison sentence, two of them suspended.
The Paris appeals court said the former president would wear an electronic bracelet instead of going to jail for the third year.
A French court convicted Sarkozy in 2021 of attempting to bribe a judge after leaving office and using influence in exchange for classified information about an investigation into the finances of his 2007 election campaign.
Sarkozy, 68, who served a single term as French president from 2007 to 2012, denies any wrongdoing.
According to the indictment, Sarkozy was seeking through the judge to obtain supposedly confidential information and influence the course of another trial before the Court of Cassation, but his request was rejected at the end of 2013.
In contrast, Sarkozy was supposed to facilitate the appointment of this judge to a position in Monaco, but he did not receive it in the end.
The current case, known as the "wiretapping," originally stemmed from another court dossier threatening Sarkozy, related to suspicions that he had secured Libyan funding for his 2007 presidential campaign.
France's financial prosecutor said last week that Sarkozy should be brought to court on charges of corruption and obtaining Libyan funding without legal support for his election campaign, which ended with him winning the presidency in 2007.
Prosecutors are investigating allegations that Muammar Gaddafi sent millions of euros in cash to Sarkozy's election campaign, allegations that were first revealed by one of Gaddafi's sons.
The financial prosecutor said Sarkozy was one of 13 individuals to be brought to justice, noting that the charges against him included "covering up money laundering, taking bribes, illegally financing a campaign and conspiracy to commit a crime punishable by ten years in prison".