Former French president sentenced to reduced jail term in appeal

By Nur Asena Erturk

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to six months of jail in appeal, according to media reports.

The corruption case, also known as the "Bygmalion affair," was heard at the Paris Court of Appeal, broadcaster BFMTV said.

Sarkozy was initially sentenced in 2021 to a year of imprisonment for illegally financing the presidential election campaign he lost in 2012.

After appealing this decision, the sentence was reduced to a year of jail with six months suspended, which means Sarkozy will only spend six months behind bars.

He was accused of receiving false invoices from the Bygmalion company, which ran the campaign, to disguise his election spending as a party activity.

Sarkozy's election spending exceeded the legal limit set by the country's National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing at €22.5 million ($24.1 million). He spent almost €43 million, BFMTV reported.

The former president is involved in two other legal cases, accused of financing his 2007 election campaign from Libyan resources in the first, and accused of corruption and traffic of influence in the second.