Rabat – Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been handed a one-year prison sentence for “illegal campaign” financing during his failed 2012 re-election candidacy.
The court ruled on Thursday that Sarkozy could spend the sentence at home on an electronic bracelet.
According to the ruling, Sarkozy exceeded the spending limit of an electoral campaign, spending double of the fixed maximum amount of money.
The sentence is second of its kind after the verdict that was ruled against the former French president in March of this year, when a court gave Sarkozy a three-year prison sentence, two of which were suspended, CNN reported.
The sentence was due to Sarkozy’s involvement in corruption and influence peddling, and the former president filed an appeal against the court’s decision.
A seasoned politician who made his mark on French politics as interior minister between 2002-2004, Sarkozy notably served as France’s president from 2007 to 2012.
Sarkozy did not attend today’s trial and, throughout the entire legal battle, the former French president strongly denied the accusations against him, suggesting that he was not involved in “how money was spent” during the re-election bid, Al Jazeera reported.
Following Jacques Chirac, who governed France between 1995-2007, Sarkozy is the second president of France’s“Fifth Republic” to have been condemned after leaving office.
