Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, sentenced to prison for corruption, admitted the possibility of appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). He stated this in an interview with the newspaper Le Figaro.
Sarkozy appealed against the court’s decision and stressed that perhaps “this fight will end in the ECHR.” “It will be painful for me if my own country is condemned, but I am ready for this, because it will be at the cost of democracy,” the former French leader explained.
Earlier, the spokesman for the defense of the politician, Jacqueline Laffont, said that she plans to appeal in the case of corruption of the ex-head of the country.
On March 1, a Paris court sentenced Sarkozy to three years in prison, and one year in real prison, in a case of corruption and trading in influence. Two other defendants in the case – former lawyer of Sarkozy Thierry Erzog and ex-judge Gilbert Azibert – were found guilty of divulging professional secrets and received similar sentences.
According to the investigation, the former president, through his lawyer, could promise Aziber a position in Monaco. In exchange, he was supposed to provide confidential information about another investigation: it concerned allegations of illegal financing of Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign by the heiress of the French company L’Oreal Liliane Bettencourt.
The investigation believes that in 2007, during a meeting with Bettencourt, Sarkozy received 150 thousand euros in cash from her. He allegedly used this money to finance his campaign. According to French law, candidates are prohibited from accepting donations of more than 4.6 thousand euros.