Ex-French president Sarkozy sentenced to year in prison for corruption

According to the court's verdict, Sarkozy will spend a year in prison. Initially, the prosecutor's office demanded that Sarkozy be sentenced to four years in prison, with the first two in prison, and the rest on probation.

“The same terms were requested for two more defendants in the case - lawyer Thierry Erzog and former employee of the Court of Cassation Gilbert Azibert”, - Kommersant reports.

This is not the first corruption scandal in which Sarkozy has been accused. The previous case concerned the illegal receipt of 150 thousand euros from the owner of the company L'Oreal Liliane Bettencourt, intended to conduct the election campaign of Sarkozy. However, the hearings in this case ended with an acquittal for the ex-president.

The present case is inextricably linked with the previous one. The investigation believes that Sarkozy, in exchange for information about the wiretapping in the Betancourt case, promised Gilbert Azibert assistance in his appointment to a post in Monaco. As a mediator in the negotiations between Sarkozy and Azibert, the lawyer of the ex-French President Thierry Erzog acted. Earlier it was reported that on the aggregate of charges, 65-year-old Sarkozy faced up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to a million euros and disqualification with a ban on holding positions in the civil service.

Sarkozy held the post of President of France from May 16, 2007 to May 15, 2012. In 2014, he led the opposition Union for the Popular Movement, now known as the Republicans.