Sentenced to one year, in second degree, on charges of illicit expenses. The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to one year in prison, of which 6 months suspended, by Court of Appeal of Paris for the Bygmalion case. The lawyer of the former French president has announced his intention to appeal to the Supreme Court. Sarkozy's guilt for exceeding the legal spending limit during his campaign for the 2012 presidential elections was thus confirmed.
Sarkozy convicted, Court of Appeal decision
The Court decided on a one-year prison sentence, including a six-month suspended sentence for the former president who had been sentenced in first instance to one year in prison. For this second trial, the Prosecutor's Office had requested a one-year suspended prison sentence. The former President of the Republic has always denied having known or requested a system of false invoices, or having benefited from it.
Sarkozy and the first conviction in 2021
In September 2021, the Paris court convicted Sarkozy for significantly exceeding the legal ceiling for his election campaign expenses, inflicting one year in prison without parole for illegal financing. However, the same court had requested that the sentence be directly commuted to house arrest with the obligation to wear an electronic bracelet. Along with Sarkozy, 13 other people were sentenced to sentences of up to 3 and a half years in prison, partly covered by probation.
Sarkozy and the Bygmalion affair
Nicolas Sarkozy and 9 other people appealed and were re-judged from November 8th to December 7th. The trial demonstrated the existence of a mechanism set up to conceal the explosion of electoral campaign expenses of Sarkozy, around 43 million euros, compared to an authorized maximum of 22,5 million. Essentially, it was a system of double billing which he blamed on Sarkozy's party, the then ump, much of the cost of election rallies. Unlike the co-defendants, the former head of state was not convicted for the system of false invoices but for having decided to continue with the rallies despite having been made aware of the risks of exceeding the ceiling. In both trials, the former head of the Elysée from 2007 to 2012 denied "any criminal responsibility" denouncing "inventions" and "lies". His lawyer, Vincent Desry, had asked for his acquittal because Sarkozy would have "never been aware that the legal limit of electoral expenses had been exceeded".
