The 66-year-old politician, who was president from 2007 to
2012, was convicted on Monday for having tried to illegally obtain information
from a senior magistrate in 2014 about a legal action in which he was involved.
He was also handed a two-year suspended sentence. The court
said Sarkozy will be entitled to request to be detained at home with an
electronic bracelet.
The court said the facts were “particularly serious” given
that they were committed by a former president who used his status to help a
magistrate who had served his personal interest.
In addition, as a former lawyer, he was “perfectly
informed” about committing an illegal action, the court said.
Sarkozy’s two co-defendants were also found guilty and
given the same sentence as Sarkozy.
Sarkozy firmly denied all the allegations against him
during the 10-day trial that took place at the end of last year. It was the
first time in France’s modern history that a former president went on trial for
corruption.
Sarkozy’s predecessor, Jacques Chirac, was found guilty in
2011 of misuse of public money and given a two-year suspended prison sentence
for actions during his time as Paris mayor.
Sarkozy’s co-defendants - his lawyer and longtime friend
Thierry Herzog, 65, and now-retired magistrate Gilbert Azibert, 74 - also
denied wrongdoing.
Prosecutors requested two years of prison and a two-year
suspended sentence for all three defendants over what they said was a
“corruption pact.”
Sarkozy will face another trial later this month along with
13 other people on charges of illegal financing of his 2012 presidential
campaign.
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