Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy went to the Court of Appeal in Paris on Monday to plead his case after being sentenced to three years in prison for corruption and influence peddling in a wiretapping scheme.
Together with his lawyer Thierry Herzog and former magistrate Gilbert Azibert, sentenced for the same case to similar penalties, the former French president has returned to court in a process that will last until December 16 and for which he will try to reverse his conviction.
«I come here to defend my honor trampled on in not very credible conditions,» he said upon his arrival, adding that he wants to convince the courts that he did «nothing,» as reported by the news portal Ouest France.
Sarzoky was convicted in March 2021 for corruption and influence peddling offenses after French justice considered proven that he made use of his position to try to obtain information about an investigation.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office accused Sarkozy of trying to obtain in 2014 through Herzog secret information, for which he would have resorted to Azibert, then at the Court of Cassation. According to the investigators, the former president offered Azibert a position in Monaco in exchange for data relating to an open case for alleged irregular campaign financing.
The accusations are based on private telephone conversations between Sarkozy and Herzog. The former president, who denied that he had committed any irregularity, tried to overturn the recordings as valid evidence in the trial, as he argued that they were made illegally.
Sarkozy ruled France between 2007 and 2012 and became the first former head of state to physically sit in the dock, as although in 2011 his predecessor in the Elysee, Jacques Chirac, was also sentenced to two years for crimes committed during his time as mayor of Paris, he never came to court for health reasons.
