Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy convicted of corruption, handed jail sentence

Retired from politics but still influential among conservatives, Sarkozy has 10 days to appeal the ruling

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty and sentenced to jail by a court in Paris on Monday on charges of corruption and influence peddling, only the second time in modern French history that a former president has been convicted of a crime.

The conviction was the culmination of just one of several long-running legal entanglements that are coming to a head for the politician who led France from 2007 to 2012.

Sarkozy, 66, is likely to appeal, and while the conviction could undermine his stature in French politics, he still holds considerable sway among French conservatives.

Sarkozy was found guilty of trying to illegally obtain information on another case against him from a judge in return for promises to use his influence to secure a prestigious job for the judge.

The presiding judge in Monday’s case, Christine Mée, told the court that Sarkozy had “used his status as a former president to reward a magistrate who served his personal interest” and that he was “perfectly informed” of the illegality of his actions, according to French news reports.

Sarkozy, who had always denied any wrongdoing, left the courtroom without speaking to reporters, as did his lawyers.

While the court handed down a three-year prison sentence, two of those years were suspended. If Sarkozy commits a new crime within a given time frame, a court could then order the sentence to be served in full.

Sarkozy can request that his one-year term be served outside prison, for instance at home with an electronic bracelet. An appeal, which is widely expected, would place the entire sentence on hold.

The conviction does not bar Sarkozy from running for office, although he has not publicly expressed any such desire.

Sarkozy has denied wrongdoing in a complex web of financial impropriety cases that has plagued him since he left office.

He is scheduled to stand trial later this month in a separate case involving his 2012 campaign, in which he has been charged with exceeding strict limits on campaign spending. The longest-running and most serious case against him involves accusations that his 2007 campaign received illegal Libyan financing from the government of the now-dead strongman Moammar Gadhafi.

Other cases against Sarkozy have been dropped, including one in which he was accused of manipulating the heiress to the L’Oréal cosmetics fortune into financing his 2007 campaign.