O Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced, this Wednesday, by the Paris Court of Appeal, to one year in prison – six months of suspended sentence and six months of effective prison -, within the scope of the process known as ‘Bygmalion’, about excessive expenses in his presidential election campaign, which he lost in 2012.
The effective prison part of the sentence imposed on Sarkozy (2007-2012), who was sentenced in the first instance to one year in prison, will be adjusted (including house arrest with an electronic bracelet), specified the president of the court during the reading of her decision.
In September 2021, a Paris first instance court found Sarkozy guilty of having significantly exceeded the legal expenditure limit and sentenced him to one year in prison for illegally financing the 2012 presidential election campaign, which the politician ended up failing to do. win.
The court, however, requested that this sentence be served at home, under electronic surveillance.
Thirteen other people were also sentenced to sentences of up to three and a half years in prison, some of them with suspended sentences.
Sarkozy and nine other people appealed the court decision and were retried between November 8 and December 7.
The investigations also revealed that to hide his campaign expenses – almost 43 million euros, when the maximum authorized is 22.5 million – a double invoicing system was implemented by Sarkozy’s political party (Republicans).
Unlike his co-defendants, the former head of state is not accused of participating in this system of false invoices.
Nicolas Sarkozy, as in the first trial, “vigorously contested any criminal responsibility”, denouncing the existence of “fables” and “lies”.
The former head of state’s lawyer, Vincent Desry, appealed for his release, ensuring that the former head of state “never was aware of exceeding” the legal maximum limit on electoral expenses and “never incurred any expenses”.
Desry considered that it was “impossible” for the French Public Prosecutor’s Office to “demonstrate the intentional element” nor the “material element” of the alleged crime.
The defense has already announced that it will appeal the decision known today, to the Court of Cassation – the highest instance of the French judicial system, whose function is to verify the compliance of court decisions with legal standards, but does not re-judge the case. .
“Nicolas Sarkozy is completely innocent, he took note of this decision and decided to appeal to the Court of Cassation. Therefore, he maintains his fight and his position in this case”, declared his lawyer, Vincent Desry, to the press.
[Notícia atualizada às 14h47]
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2501660/sarkozy-condenado-a-um-ano-de-prisao-seis-meses-de-pena-efetiva
