Convicted of Bribing a Judge
Sentenced to House Arrest
Also on Trial for Receiving Secret Funds from Gaddafi
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was finally found guilty at the end of last year on charges including bribing a judge, will wear an electronic ankle bracelet for one year starting from the 7th (local time).
Electronic monitoring bracelet image. Material for illustrative purposes only, unrelated to the article. Photo by Yonhap News.
On this day, the French daily Le Parisien reported that the court decided last week that former President Sarkozy must wear an electronic ankle bracelet starting from the 7th. Accordingly, on the afternoon of this day, former President Sarkozy endured the humiliation of becoming the first French president in history to wear an electronic ankle bracelet. He must wear the electronic ankle bracelet for the next year and is only allowed to leave his home at specific times.
Sarkozy, who served from 2007 to 2012, was accused in 2014 of promising an important position in exchange for receiving internal confidential information from a sitting judge regarding an investigation into his illegal political funding suspicions. Since then, former President Sarkozy has continuously denied his charges through social networking services (SNS), but on December 8 last year, the French Supreme Court upheld the guilty verdict for corruption and abuse of power, as in the first and second trials, confirming a three-year prison sentence with two years suspended. However, the one-year prison sentence that must be served will be served under house arrest with electronic monitoring. Along with this, former President Sarkozy is also banned from running for public office for the next three years.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Photo by AFP Yonhap News
AFP reported that this is the first time a former French president has been sentenced to wear an electronic ankle bracelet, and it is also the first time a punishment such as house arrest without suspension has been imposed. Sarkozy’s predecessor, former President Jacques Chirac, was prosecuted for embezzling public funds while serving as mayor of Paris and was sentenced in 2011 to two years in prison with a suspended sentence.
French criminal procedure law stipulates that prisoners aged 70 or older can apply for conditional release. Accordingly, there is a possibility that former President Sarkozy may not serve the full one year of house arrest. Born on January 28, 1955, former President Sarkozy turned 70 last month.
In addition, former President Sarkozy is currently on trial in the first instance for charges of receiving large sums of illicit money from Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi ahead of the 2007 French presidential election. Sarkozy is accused of making a 'corruption pact' with Gaddafi (who died in 2011) around 2005, promising industrial and diplomatic benefits in exchange for the Libyan regime illegally funding his presidential campaign with 50 million euros (approximately 70 billion KRW). This trial will continue until April 10, and if found guilty, he could face up to 10 years in prison.
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