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Nicolas Sarkozy after leaving the court on a trial day in November last year
Photo: Aurelien Morissard / imago images / IP3press
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to three years in prison for bribery and illicit influence.
Of these, two years will be suspended, as the French news agency AFP reported on Monday from the Paris Palace of Justice.
Investigators are convinced that Sarkozy attempted to bribe a Supreme Court judge in 2014 to obtain information on the status of an ongoing investigation against him.
With success: The judge, Gilbert Azibert, is said to have obtained Sarkozy secret information about investigations against him.
In addition, Azibert is said to have tried to influence his colleagues in favor of the former president.
In return, Sarkozy is said to have promised help to enable Azibert to find a position of his choice in the Principality of Monaco, which he never received.
In addition to Sarkozy, Azibert and Sarkozy's lawyer Thierry Herzog were also on trial, with whom he is said to have arranged the bribe.
In France, the case is known as the "wiretapping affair" as the judiciary wiretapped telephone conversations between the former president and his lawyer.
Sarkozy was President of France from 2007 to 2012.
He is the first post-war French president to be charged with corruption.
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mrc / dpa / AFP / Reuters