The Paris Court of Appeal on Wednesday sentenced ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy to three years in prison in the wiretapping case, two of them suspended.
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“Sarkozy was found guilty of ‘corruption and influence peddling’, an unprecedented sentence against a French president,” local media reported.
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His lawyer Thierry Erzog and former judge Gilbert Aziber each received similar terms.
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In March 2021, a Paris court ruled in the so-called wiretapping case, which dates back to 2014, finding Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling and sentenced him to three years in prison, of which two years on probation. Sarkozy’s lawyer, Thierry Erzog, and a former high-ranking official of the Court of Cassation, Gilbert Aziber, were also found guilty of corruption.
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According to the prosecution, Sarkozy, through his lawyer, promised to help Aziber get a position in the Principality of Monaco in exchange for confidential information about the progress of the investigation into the illegal financing of his election campaign by the French house L’Oreal. The investigation referred to the numerous recordings of intercepted telephone conversations that it had at its disposal.
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As part of the investigation into the presidential campaign financing case, investigators in September 2013 began wiretapping Sarkozy’s telephone conversations. In early 2014, they discovered that the politician was communicating with his lawyer Erzog on mobile phones registered under false names. The court established the existence of a “corruption pact” that was concluded between Sarkozy, his lawyer, Erzog and Aziber.
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On December 5, 2022, the appeal process began in the “wiretapping case”, in which Sarkozy is a defendant. Together with him, the appeal was filed by his other defendants – lawyer Thierry Erzog and a former high-ranking employee of the Court of Cassation Gilbert Aziber.
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The prosecutor’s office asked the Paris Court of Appeal to sentence Sarkozy and two other defendants to the same term – three years of probation.
