Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy claims his court case is politically motivated.
He's been sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of criminal conspiracy, relating to illicit funds from the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
He was acquitted of all other charges.
Europe correspondent Vincent McAviney told Francesca Rudkin it's unclear whether he will spend the full five years in prison.
He says the ruling means Sarkozy will spend time in jail even if he launches an appeal, which he intends to do.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Episode Transcript
And Vincent Mecaveny joins me now from Europe. Morning.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Vincent, good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Former French president Nicholas Psychosi has been seen since to
five years in jazz. Is this the third conviction? There
were two previous ones for corruption, weren't there?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Yeah, that's right. He's had a pretty checkered pass since
he left office. He was, of course a president of
France prior to the Francis Holans and he was sentenced
now to five years in jail. So he's going from
the Elise Palace to jail. And this is in a
(00:37):
case relating to millions of euros of illicit funds from
the late Libyan leader, Colonel Wuanmerga Daffy. Now there wasn't
a charge, there wasn't a successful conviction of sort of
having the campaign finances themselves. This is all about a
conspiracy to get money out of Libya for his election campaigning.
(00:58):
He was president two thousand and seven to twelve, so
quite a while ago now, But this case has worked
its way through the French justice system and in exchange,
he was reportedly going to help sort of wash Gadaffi's
international reputation. He was a pariah at this point. And
he reacted pretty strongly in court, taking down the justice
system and being very affronted and quite shocked, it seemed,
(01:19):
at the fact that he is actually going to have
to spend time in prison. His wife, the supermodel Carla Brunei,
was standing next to him, also looking fairly shell shocked
by it.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Do you think he will have to spend five years
in prison?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I don't know if he will spell in the full
five years, but I think it's very likely he is
going to appeal against this, but he is going to
have to spend a couple of years, it seems, in
prison until potentially the result of that appeal.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Then's it, Maca. Then, thank you so much for the update.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
For more from early edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
to News Talks it had been from five am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Brothers Ortiz
The Brothers Ortiz is the story of two brothers–both successful, but in very different ways. Gabe Ortiz becomes a third-highest ranking officer in all of Texas while his younger brother Larry climbs the ranks in Puro Tango Blast, a notorious Texas Prison gang. Gabe doesn’t know all the details of his brother’s nefarious dealings, and he’s made a point not to ask, to protect their relationship. But when Larry is murdered during a home invasion in a rented beach house, Gabe has no choice but to look into what happened that night. To solve Larry’s murder, Gabe, and the whole Ortiz family, must ask each other tough questions.