Days after his conviction for corruption and influence peddling, Nicolas Sarkozy said he would fight to clear his name at the European human rights court if he did not win the appeal.
The former French president described the Paris court verdict on Monday and the three-year prison sentence he received (two years’ suspension) as “profound and shockingly unfair”.
Speaking to Le Figaro, Sarkozy, who is involved in several legal investigations but has always insisted that he did not commit any wrongdoing, said he was “indignant, but determined”.
“I have received many messages of support from people in France and abroad who say they are shocked by what is happening. I know that we are in a long battle. I appealed the sentence and perhaps the case will end up in the European Court of Human Rights. It would be painful to seek condemnation from my own country, but I am ready to do so because that is the price of democracy, ”he said.
In the interview, the right-wing politician, who had already complained that the judges are running a political campaign against him, stopped attacking the courts directly, saying that this would further damage “our democracy”. However, he added: “The question of the partiality of certain judges can be asked.”
On Monday, Sarkozy, 66, and his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, 65, were convicted of trying to bribe a senior judge, Gilbert Azibert, 74, for information related to one of several legal investigations involving the former president. Herzog and Azibert were also sentenced to three years in prison, with two years suspended, and also appealed their convictions.
The appeal is likely to take years and will involve a retrial, but in any case, Sarkozy will not go to prison, as the sentence of one year in prison can be spent in partial confinement at home or using an electronic bracelet.
The case, known as the “Bismuth case”, was based on telephone taps used by Sarkozy – who used the false name of Paul Bismuth – to speak to Herzog. The ex-president’s supporters argue that the secretly recorded conversations should not have been used as evidence in court.
“Here is an unprecedented case of corruption: not a cent has changed hands, no one has gained any benefit, there has been no victim and there has been no disturbance to public order. They condemned me for attributing the alleged intention of committing a crime, ”said Sarkozy, who led France between 2007 and 2012.
“I remember that in order to be convicted, under the rule of law, there has to be evidence and in this case there is not. If we were in Putin’s Russia, human rights defenders would scream that this is serious ”.
On March 17, Sarkozy will be back in court, represented by Herzog, in another case based on an investigation into the accounts of his unsuccessful reelection campaign in 2012.
Center-right Les Républicains, which is struggling to find a reliable candidate for next year’s presidential election, expected Sarkozy to be released on Monday, paving the way for another presidential candidacy.
However, Sarkozy told Le Figaro that he turned the page on “active politics” more for personal reasons than because of his legal problems.
“Not clarified, it doesn’t change anything politically for me. When I said that I had turned the page, it wasn’t that I was waiting for a judicial verdict, it was for another reflection, more personal, linked to me and my family, which led me to give up ”, he said.
“I would not have come back even if I had received the verdict of innocence that was my right. I said I would not be a candidate in the presidential election, and I stand my ground. ”
Sarkozy will give another prime-time television interview on Wednesday night.