Former French president sentenced to three years for bribery

Paris (dpa), 1 March, 2021 -Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to three years on charges of bribery and influence peddling, a court in Paris ruled in an historic sentence on Monday.

The sentence includes one year in prison and two years of suspended sentence, according to a report by the press agency AFP and other French media.

Sarkozy was accused of trying, with the help of his legal adviser in 2014, to learn investigative secrets from Gilbert Azibert, then an advocate general at the Court of Cassation, regarding a separate investigation concerning campaign financing.

In return, the ex-president is said to have offered to support the lawyer in applying for a post in Monaco.

The accusations were based on evidence from wiretaps.

Sarkozy’s lawyer, Thierry Herzog, and lawyer Azibert were also sentenced to three years each, both also including two years of suspended sentence.