A Paris court on Wednesday lightened the one-year prison sentence imposed on former President Nicolas Sarkozy for illegal campaign financing, saying he only needed to spend half that time behind bars. As in the first trial, the former head of state “strongly denied any criminal responsibility” and said he would appeal the decision.
First modification:
2 min
Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced on Wednesday, February 14, by the Paris Court of Appeal to one year in prison, six of them suspended, in the framework of the 'Bygmalion' file, relating to excessive spending in his losing presidential campaign in 2012. His lawyer, Vincent Desry, told the press that he was going to appeal to the French Supreme Court.
“Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy is completely innocent, he has taken note of this decision and has decided to appeal to the Supreme Court. Therefore, he maintains his fight, his position in this case,” Mr. Desry explained to the press.
The Paris Court of Appeal upheld a lower court's guilty verdict for Sarkozy, convicted of concealing illegal spending in his 2012 re-election campaign. The former president was initially sentenced to one year in prison, but the appeals court ruled that he must serve six months with another six months suspended.
In September 2021, the Paris Criminal Court found Sarkozy guilty of having far exceeded the legal spending limit and sentenced him to one year in prison for illegal campaign financing.
However, the court requested that this sentence be carried out directly, at his home and under electronic surveillance.
Thirteen other people were also sentenced to terms of up to three and a half years in prison, some of which were suspended.
Sarkozy and nine others appealed and were retried from November 8 to December 7.
In this case, the investigations revealed that to hide the explosion of expenses of his campaign – almost 43 million euros compared to an authorized maximum of 22.5 million – a double billing system had been put in place. Thus, the Union had been billed by a Popular Movement (the former president's political party), under cover of fictitious agreements, for a large part of the cost of the rallies.
Unlike his co-defendants, the former head of state is not involved in this system of false invoices.
As he had done in the first trial, Sarkozy “he strongly denied any criminal responsibility,” denouncing “fables” and “lies.”
His lawyer asked for his acquittal, insisting that the former president “was never aware” that the legal limit on electoral expenses had been exceeded and “never incurred any expenses.”
Furthermore, he considered that it had been “impossible” for the prosecution to “prove the intentional element” or the “material element” of the charged crime.
This article was adapted from its French version.
#Court #sentences #Sarkozy #months #prison #illegal #financing #campaign
