Former President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, has been sentenced to a year in prison after being found guilty of corruption. He has also received a two-year suspended sentence for influence peddling.
Sarkozy‘s lawyer Jacqueline Laffont called the verdict “extremely severe” and “totally unfounded and unjustified”, adding that the former president was “calm but determined to continue to prove his innocence”
Sarkozy was found guilty of attempting to bribe a magistrate by offering him a prestigious job in return for information about a separate criminal case.
The French court’s ruling on Monday has made Sarkozy the second head of state in modern-day France to be convicted of corruption, and the first former French president to have received a custodial sentence.
However, All three defendants are expected to appeal.
In the ruling, the judge said Sarkozy could be put on home arrest rather than go to prison.
The sentence means it is unlikely Sarkozy will physically go to prison, a punishment that in France usually applies to custodial terms above two years.
The court said Sarkozy would be entitled to request to be detained at home with an electronic bracelet.
The crimes, according to the judiciary, were specified as influence-peddling and violation of professional secrecy.
His wife, supermodel, and singer Carla Bruni reacted by describing the case as “senseless persecution”, adding that “the fight continued, and the truth would come out”.
