Former French president Sarkozy will have to wear electronic ankle bracelet after corruption conviction

“I am not convinced to accept the profound injustice that was done to me,” Sarkozy said on the social network X. “I want to reiterate my complete innocence,” he added.

“He will obviously comply,” his lawyer, Patrice Spinosi, told AFP, although he assured that, after this “sad day”, he will take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Sarkozy was convicted in the first instance on March 1, 2021 and then, on appeal, on May 17, 2023.

According to the judicial system, the former president and his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, sealed a “corruption pact” in 2014 with Gilbert Azibert, a magistrate at the Court of Cassation.

The aim was for Azibert to try to influence an appeal that Sarkozy had filed in another case of alleged illegal donations to his party, which was later withdrawn.

All three received the same sentence, and the lawyer will be banned from practicing law for three years.