A French court has found former head of state Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption offences and attempting to bribe a judge. He was sentenced to three years in prison. He will have to spend a year in prison, but two of them are suspended.
The court considered the accusation against the former head of the French country of corruption crimes, an attempt to bribe a judge and the use of official powers proved.
The court gave the recording of conversations over the phone in a former Chapter how the evidence.
However, Sarkozy denies the accusations and considers them harassment by political rivals. According to the BBC’s Lucy Williamson in France, when announcing the verdict, the judge said that Sarkozy “knew that he was doing bad things.”
The prosecutor’s office demanded to sentence 66-year-old Nicolas to four years–two real and two suspended, but the court verdict states that the former head can not allow prison and spend a year of imprisonment at home, while an electronic bracelet will be used to control his movements.
Nicolas Sarkozy will remain at large until the appeal is heard.
At the moment, another criminal case is being investigated against Sarkozy. The ex-head is suspected of receiving money from Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi in a criminal way.
But a number of legal proceedings do not end there. A new trial is scheduled for March, where Sarkozy and his 13 accomplices will face charges of illegally financing the 2012 election campaign.
The former president is suspected of fraud, as a result of which he managed to almost double the legal limit on the cost of a lost election campaign.
