France's highest court has upheld a sentence against former French President Nicolas Sarkozy over the illegal financing of his 2012 re-election campaign.
He was found guilty of overspending on his campaign and subsequently hiring a PR firm named Bygmalion to cover it up.
In 2024, Sarkozy, now 70, received a one-year sentence, six months of which are suspended, allowing him to serve it by wearing an electronic tag instead of going to jail.
Sarkozy has consistently denied all allegations against him.
Prosecutors claimed that Sarkozy's UMP party spent nearly double the €22.5 million (£19.4 million) cap on his campaign, indulging in lavish rallies and events. To conceal these expenditures, it was reported that UMP instructed Bygmalion to bill the party instead of the campaign.
This is Sarkozy's second definitive conviction, having previously faced a corruption conviction upheld by the High Court of Appeal last December, which also required him to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet for six months.
In September, he was sentenced to five years in jail after being found guilty of criminal conspiracy, spending 20 days in jail before his release earlier this month.
An appeal is set for next year, but until then Sarkozy is under strict judicial supervision and prohibited from leaving France.
Post-release, Sarkozy announced a new book, titled 'A Prisoner's Diary', reflecting on his brief stay in jail. In an excerpt, he poignantly observes, 'In prison there is nothing to see, and nothing to do … Here, the noise is, unfortunately, constant. But - like in the desert - inner life strengthens in jail.'
