Maybe Nicolas Sarkozy should have waited a bit before returning the manuscript A prisoner’s diary. After twenty days in prison he served in the Libyan affair, now the electronic bracelet is back: the Court of Cassation confirmed this Wednesday, November 26, the sentence of the former President of the Republic in the Bygmalion affair.
Thomas Legrand’s post
Having taken a backseat to the detention of the former head of state in the Santé prison in Paris, this cassation procedure, which suspended the sentence imposed against him, was the last resort under French law in the case, where the investigation revealed that, in order to hide the explosive costs of his campaign – almost 43 million euros with a maximum allowable amount of 22.5 million – a double invoicing system had been put in place that charged costs to the UMP (now LR), under the guise of a fictitious convention, which constituted the bulk of the meeting costs.
Unlike the other defendants, the former head of state was not accused of running a fake invoice system, but of being a beneficiary, as a candidate, of illegal political funding. At the first level and appeal level, Nicolas Sarkozy sued “with full vigor of all criminal responsibility”, reproach “fable” And “lie”.
His sentence at the appeal level, which the court ordered to be adjusted to the strict part (electronic bracelet, semi-liberty, etc.), was slightly lower than the one-year prison sentence imposed at first instance in 2021. Three of the ten convicted in the Bygmalion trial joined the appeal: the campaign director, Guillaume Lambert, and former UMP executives Eric Cesari and Pierre Chassat.
The former head of state is familiar with electronic bracelets, as he had worn them – secretly, on his ankles – after his final conviction in the Bismuth wiretapping case in December 2024, after the rejection of the first appeal… Thus, he was tried in the spring of 2025 in the trial of the Libya case, which this time targeted the financing of his first presidential campaign in 2007. Therefore, he will wear another electronic bracelet for his first presidential campaign in 2007. appeal hearing, which will start in March 2026, after he was sentenced to five years in prison in September.
