Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has lost his appeal against a 2021 corruption and influence-peddling conviction.
On Wednesday, the Paris Court of Appeals upheld a three-year prison sentence against Sarkozy, but it ruled that two years would be suspended and Sarkozy would wear an electronic bracelet instead of going to jail for the remaining year.
The court also said the conservative politician remains banned from public office for three years.
His lawyers said they would appeal the decision before the Court of Cassation, France’s highest appeals court.
“Nicolas Sarkozy is innocent,” lawyer Jacqueline Laffont told reporters. “We will take this all the way. We are just at the beginning of the process.”
In March 2021, Sarkozy became France’s first post-war president to be sentenced to prison when a court found he and his former lawyer, Thierry Herzog, had formed a “corruption pact” with Judge Gilbert Azibert to obtain and share information about an investigation.
