France: Sarkozy loses appeal, must wear electronic ankle tag

France's Court of Cassation rejected an appeal from former French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday, ordering him to wear an electronic ankle monitor while serving a one-year jail sentence for corruption at home.

Sarkozy had appealed a lower court conviction that carried a three-year sentence, two suspended, for bribery and influence peddling within the justice system.

The ruling is final, at least within France, and sees the former political heavyweight barred from running for office for three years.

However, Sarkozy said on Wednesday that he planned to file a case against France at the European Court of Human Rights. 

Sarkozy and lawyer conspired with judge

Sarkozy was convicted of corruption in a scheme in which he got confidential information from Judge Gilbert Azibert in another case in exchange for helping Azibert secure a cushy post in Monaco after retirement. Azibert and Sarkozy's lawyer Thierry Herzog, who facilitated the exchange, both received prison sentences in the case.

Although nothing came of the posting, nor was the the information seen to have helped Sarkozy, the initial verdict found the three men to have engaged in a "criminal pact."

As with Sarkozy, the court also rejected their appeals.

Discovery of the crime came by chance when a 2014 wiretap by investigators looking into campaign finance fraud allegations showed that Sarkozy had an unofficial phone registered under an assumed name ("Paul Bismuth") dedicated to confidential calls with his lawyer Herzog. 

Wednesday's rejection of appeal means a judge will determine the details of his house arrest within the next three weeks.

Not the last of Sarkozy's legal woes

Sarkozy's one term in office (2007-2012) was marked by high-profile corruption scandals often involving rich sponsors and friends, nepotism and excess. His time since has been marked by legal battles stemming from that period. 

Beyond attempting to undermine the legal system with Herzog and Azibert, Sarkozy has also been found guilty of finance fraud in his failed 2012 re-election campaign. A charge for which he was sentenced to a one-year sentence, half suspended, and is appealing before the Court of Cassation.

And lastly, in January the 69-year-old will go on trial alongside associates in another campaign finance scheme involving Libyan funds in 2007. Sarkozy and 12 others are accused of having sought millions in financial gifts from the government of Libya's then-leader Moammar Gadhafi to help finance Sarkozy's successful election campaign.

Sarkozy was a trailblazer on the political right and enjoys considerable influence to this day. 

He is known to communicate regularly with President Emmanuel Macron, with whom he was recently seen at the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Despite this, Wednesday's decision, on top of the others, would seem to signal the end of Sarkozy's career and instead secure him a place in the history books as the first French post-war president to ever serve time for a conviction.  

js/msh (AFP, dpa)