On Wednesday, a Paris appeals court confirmed former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conviction for illegal campaign finance while lightening his original one-year prison term.
The appeals court ruled that he should serve six months, with an additional six months suspended. The verdict was still tougher than the prosecutors’ proposed one-year suspended sentence.
It remains doubtful that he will ever go to prison, as such brief sentences in France are typically served as a type of home detention with a tag.
The Paris Court of Appeal confirmed a lower court’s guilty finding for Sarkozy, who was convicted of concealing unlawful expenses during his lost 2012 re-election bid.
His lawyer, Vincent Desry, instantly stated that the feisty former president would dispute the appeal ruling in France’s highest court.
“Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy is completely innocent. “He has taken note of this decision and decided to file an appeal with the Court of Cassation,” he told reporters.
“He therefore maintains his fight, his position in this matter,” he went on to say.
Sarkozy has faced a slew of legal issues since his lone stint in power from 2007 to 2012.
In a number of incidents, he has been charged with corruption, bribery, influence peddling, and campaign funding violations.
Sarkozy, 69, faced claims in the so-called “Bygmalion affair” that his right-wing party, the UMP, collaborated with a public relations firm to conceal the exact cost of his 2012 re-election effort.
In 2021, the court sentenced him to one year in prison, making him France’s first post-World War II president to be imprisoned.
However, the court ordered that the sentence be carried out through electronically supervised house arrest rather than imprisonment.
Trial in 2025
Sarkozy, one of ten of the thirteen defendants who appealed, began his appeal hearing in November of last year.
Sarkozy has yet to serve any jail time because his case is pending appeals.
The former French president has “vigorously” denied any wrongdoing, accusing the company, Bygmalion, of enriching itself behind his back.
Sarkozy has maintained that he could never have known “there was a system of false invoices.”
However, prosecutors claim Sarkozy spent roughly 43 million euros ($47 million) on his 2012 campaign, nearly doubling the permissible amount of 22.5 million euros.
France places severe restrictions on campaign expenditure.
The 13 other defendants, which included UMP party members, accountants, and Pygmalion executives, were found guilty of a variety of offenses, including forgery, fraud, and involvement in illicit campaign financing.
In 2025, Sarkozy will stand trial on charges that he unlawfully funded his successful 2007 presidential campaign by accepting money from late Libyan tyrant Moamer Kadhafi.
Despite his judicial troubles, the man who referred to himself as the “hyper-president” while in office still has tremendous power and support on the right of French politics.
Sarkozy has also maintained ties with President Emmanuel Macron. According to French media, the two have lunch together several times to discuss politics.
Sarkozy has authored books that have become significant publishing successes.
In his most recent book, he stated that he would prefer his pupil and current Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin to follow Macron as French president, citing his “evident qualities,” however the minister has subsequently suggested that he may not run.