Former French President Sarkozy fitted with ankle bracelet for one-year corruption sentence
ISTANBUL
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday began serving a one-year sentence with an electronic ankle bracelet following his conviction for corruption and influence-peddling in a wiretapping case.
Sarkozy had the bracelet fitted on Friday afternoon, according to Paris prosecutors.
His sentence, finalized on Dec. 18 when the Court of Cassation rejected his appeal, allows him to serve the term under house arrest with monitored mobility.
Under the conditions of his sentence, Sarkozy is permitted to leave his resident between 8 am and 8 pm local time.
His curfew is extended until 9.30 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays due to his ongoing trial over alleged Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign, which is set to continue at a Paris court until April 10.
Sarkozy was summoned to the court in late January to be informed of the terms of his sentence.
According to judicial sources, he did not immediately request conditional release, despite French law allowing inmates 70 and over to apply for such measures under specific conditions, Franceinfo reported.
The 70-year-old center-right politician was wiretapped in 2013 after suspicions that he illegally funded his election campaign from Libyan sources.
Investigators found that the former president was using two other phone lines registered under the name Paul Bismuth. Sarkozy only communicated with his lawyer Thierry Herzog via those two numbers.
Sarkozy, who led the country in 2007-2012, and his lawyer Thierry Herzog were accused of bribing Gilbert Azibert, a former judge in the Cassation Court in 2014 to obtain information about a judiciary investigation.
In exchange, Sarkozy promised the judge a prestigious job in Monaco.
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