First modification:
Exclusively for the French newspaper ‘Le Figaro’, former President Nicolás Sarkozy declared on Tuesday that he is ready to go to the European Court of Human Rights to prove his innocence. This was his first public statement after judges found him guilty of corruption and influence peddling.
Determined and with a fighting spirit. This is announced by the French media that received the first statements from the former president after having received a sentence for attempted bribery and influence peddling.
“I appealed the decision, maybe I will have to continue this fight until the European Court of Human Rights,” Sarkozy told the newspaper ‘Le Figaro’. “It would be painful for me to have to have my own country condemned, but I am ready because that would be the price of democracy.”
In the interview, conducted by journalists Stéphane Durand-Souffland and Marion Mourgue, the 66-year-old former president says he will not accept being convicted for what he did not do.
Sarkozy said that he has always maintained his faith in the triumph of law and justice, as is typical of the rule of law. He also expressed that when these rules are broken, as in his case, his inquiry and determination multiply. The former head of state also said he is aware that this will be a long-term fight, but that he feels supported by numerous French and foreign observers who say they are dismayed by what is happening.
Sentenced to three years in prison for attempted bribery and influence peddling
On March 1, a court sentenced him to three years in prison, two of them suspended and one final. The ex-president will remain free while he appeals, if after that he loses the process it is possible that instead of going behind bars he will have to serve a year from home to jail with an electronic device.
Sarkozy was found guilty of corruption after trying to bribe, along with his lawyer Thierry Herzog, the magistrate Gilbert Azibert, offering him a high position in the Council of State of Monaco in exchange for inside information about an investigation against him for funds for his first presidential campaign in 2007. Sarkozy, who was accused of receiving illegal payments from L’Oreal heir Liliane Bettencourt, wanted the magistrate to tell him about the process.
This ruling is in itself a blow to the retired politician, who still has an influential role in French conservative politics. This case, called “eavesdropping” adds to the long list of legal problems that Sarkozy has in tow.
The L’Oréal case: the scandal of the heiress
In this, the case that triggered the court’s conviction, Sarkozy was acquitted in 2013 after a long dispute in which he investigated the alleged acceptance of illegal payments by L’Oréal’s heir, Liliane Bettencourt, who contributed to his 2007 presidential campaign. In this process, he was also accused of taking advantage of the octogenarian’s mental weakness.
Two years after the acquittal, a court in Bordeaux also found Eric Woerth, former budget minister and UMP party treasurer, and also implicated, not guilty, citing a lack of evidence despite “strong suspicions” that the payments had been made. accomplished.
Gaddafi’s alleged contribution
Saif al-Islam, the son of the late Lebanese dictator Muammar Gaddafi, was the first to make the accusations public in 2011, stating that Sarkozy – then president of France – should “return the money he took from Libya to finance his campaign. electoral”.
The complaints account for Sarkozy’s alleged acceptance of suitcases full of millions of euros in cash for the politician’s election campaign in 2007. A year later, the investigative website Mediapart published a document alleging that the dictator had accepted support Sarkozy with up to 50 million euros. The former president denied the accusations, saying in a 2018 interview that: “There is not even the slightest hint of evidence.”
The “Bygmalion case”
At the end of March, Sarkozy will have to appear again in court on charges of illegal financing for his 2012 presidential re-election campaign, which culminated in the victory of his socialist rival, François Hollande.
The indictment ensures that the Conservative party of the former head of state, formerly known as the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), hid, together with the public relations company Bygmalion, 20 million euros of the costs of his campaign. The former president denied the allegations.
Russian consulting
On January 15 of this year, the French Financial Prosecutor’s Office opened a previous investigation into influence peddling and alleged criminal lobbying activities in favor of Russian oligarchs when Sarkozy was an advisor to an insurance firm in that country.
The Mediapart website claimed that the investigation focused on a payment made by a Russian insurance company, Reso-Garantia, for three million euros in 2019, while Sarkozy was working as an advisor. The inquiry verifies whether the former president acted solely as a consultant, which would be entirely legal, “or whether he engaged in potentially criminal lobbying activities on behalf of the Russian oligarchs.”
.
source https://pledgetimes.com/after-conviction-sarkozy-announces-that-he-is-ready-to-sue-france-in-european-court/
Disqus comments