Bygmalion trial: Nicolas Sarkozy sentenced to one year in prison – archyde

It is again the hour of judgment for Nicolas Sarkozy. The former President of the Republic was however absent, Thursday, September 30, when the Paris Criminal Court sentenced him to the maximum sentence of one year in prison for the illegal financing of his campaign for the 2012 presidential election, in the Bygmalion case. “President Sarkozy, with whom I just spoke on the phone, asked me to appeal, which I will do immediately”, declared his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, at the exit of the courtroom.

The sentence is higher than the requisitions of the prosecution, which had requested a sentence of one year in prison, including six months suspended. It will nevertheless be suitable for home detention under electronic surveillance. But the former President of the Republic will not wear an electronic bracelet Thursday evening, since the court did not ask, as it could have done, the immediate execution of the sentence pronounced and its adjustment.

This is the second conviction for Nicolas Sarkozy: he was sentenced on the 1^er March to three years in prison (including one year closed) for corruption and influence peddling in the so-called “wiretapping” affair. He appealed against this conviction.

He “Continued to organize meetings”, after having been “Warned in writing of the risk of being exceeded” of the legal ceiling, recalled the president of 11^e Caroline Viguier correctional room. “It was not his first campaign, he had experience as a candidate”, continued the magistrate.

The “carelessness” of the former president

Nicolas Sarkozy was only tried for “Illegal campaign financing” – for which he incurred one year’s imprisonment and a fine of 3,750 euros -, but he “Unquestionably” benefited from fraud, having means much greater than those authorized by law: at least 42.8 million in total, almost double the legal ceiling at the time.

Unlike his co-defendants, present every day, Nicolas Sarkozy only came to the hearing for his questioning. A way of placing oneself ” Above the fight “ which ulcerated the floor. The “Total casually” of the one who “Visibly do not regret anything” is “Like the casualness in his campaign”, had launched the prosecutor Vanessa Perrée.

Nicolas Sarkozy had denied everything altogether. ” A fable ! “, he had carried away at the bar. His defense had pleaded for release. “He did not sign any estimate, he did not sign any invoice, he accepted all the restrictions that were asked of him. He is far from being a hysterical, insatiable candidate ”, had put forward his lawyer M^e Gesche Le Fur.

From two to three and a half years in prison for co-convicts

Thirteen other defendants – former executives of the communication agency Bygmalion and the UMP, accountants – were prosecuted for “forgery”, “use of forgery”, “breach of trust” or “fraud”, offenses punishable by three to five years in prison and a fine of 375,000 euros.

Guillaume Lambert, who was Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign director in 2012, was sentenced for fraud and complicity in the illegal financing of the electoral campaign to three years and six months in prison, including two years suspended. For the same charges, Philippe Briand, former president of the campaign financing association, was sentenced to two years in prison, one of which was suspended.

The two men participated in all the weekly meetings which made it possible to set up from March 2012 the fraudulent process and to validate it collectively, estimated the president of the court.

Jérôme Lavrilleux, former deputy director of the 2012 presidential campaign, was convicted of breach of trust, complicity in fraud and illegal financing of the electoral campaign and sentenced to three years in prison, one of which was suspended. , accompanied by a three-year ineligibility sentence.

For his part, Franck Attal, head of the Event & Cie company in charge of organizing meetings, was sentenced to two years in prison, including one year suspended, and a fine of 100,000 euros for complicity in forgery, forgery, fraud and illegal campaign financing.

Also listen Nicolas Sarkozy at the helm: account of the Bygmalion trial