EX-FRENCH PRESIDENT SENTENCED TO PRISON
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty and sentenced to prison by a court in Paris on Monday on charges of corruption and influence peddling, only the second time in modern French history that a former president has been convicted of a crime.
The conviction was the culmination of just one of several long-running legal entanglements that are coming to a head for the politician who led France from 2007 to 2012.
Sarkozy, 66, has always denied any wrongdoing, and he quickly announced he would appeal. He still holds considerable sway among French conservatives, but the conviction could undermine his broader stature in French politics and dash any hopes of mounting yet another political comeback.
Sarkozy was found guilty of trying to illegally obtain information on another case against him from a judge in return for promises to use his influence to secure a prestigious job for the judge.
While the court handed down a three-year prison sentence, two of those years were suspended. If Sarkozy commits a new crime within a given time frame, a court could then order the full sentence to be served.
Sarkozy can request that his one-year term be served outside prison, for instance at home with an electronic bracelet. But Sarkozy’s appeal places the entire sentence on hold.
The conviction does not bar Sarkozy from running for office, although he has not publicly expressed any such desire.
Sarkozy has denied any wrongdoing in a complex web of cases that has plagued him since he left office.
He is scheduled to stand trial later this month in a separate case involving his 2012 campaign, in which he has been charged with exceeding strict limits on campaign spending. The most serious case against him involves accusations that his 2007 campaign received illegal financing from the government of now-dead Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.