Sarkozy Ordered to Start Serving Sentence Immediately

In what former French President Nicolas Sarkozy calls a "profound injustice," he has been ordered to wear an electronic tag for a year after losing an appeal in a corruption and influence peddling case. France's highest court upheld Sarkozy's conviction on Wednesday, the BBC reports. The 69-year-old former president plans to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, but since all his avenues of appeal in France have been exhausted, he has to begin his sentence immediately, France24 reports. A lower court sentenced Sarkozy to a year in prison and a two-year suspended sentence in 2021. The conviction was upheld by an appeals court last year in a ruling that said the year in prison could be served at home, with Sarkozy wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet.

Sarkozy, who left office in 2012, and his former lawyer, Thierry Herzog, were found guilty of forming a "corruption pact" with a judge in 2014 to obtain information about a campaign finance case against him, reports Le Monde. The lawyer and the judge received the same sentence as Sarkozy. The former president is also appealing his 6-month sentence in the campaign finance case. Sarkozy is due to go on trial next year in another campaign finance case involving allegations that he illegally sought funds from Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2007. (More Nicolas Sarkozy stories.)