Nicolas Sarkozy’s jail sentence shocks France’s political class
The former French president is convicted of corruption, but appeals
FOR MUCH of France’s Fifth Republic, the modern state established by Charles de Gaulle in 1958, criminal cases against elected politicians have often failed either to reach court or to end in a conviction, let alone a prison sentence. On March 1st a Paris court took a step closer to ending an era of impunity. It found Nicolas Sarkozy, a centre-right president from 2007 to 2012, guilty of corruption and influence-peddling. He was sentenced to three years in prison, two of them suspended.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “An end to impunity”
Europe March 6th 2021
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From the March 6th 2021 edition
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