A court in France has sentenced the nation’s former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, to three years in jail for trying to bribe a magistrate – though he is unlikely to actually spend any of that time in prison.
Mr Sarkozy was convicted on charges of influence peddling and corruption for offering to help the magistrate, Gilbert Azibert, get a plum job in Monaco in return for confidential information about an inquiry into his own presidential campaign’s finances.
The key evidence in the case was a series of phone conversations in 2014 between Mr Sarkozy and his lawyer, co-defendant Thierry Herzog, which were recorded by police.
At the time, investigators were examining claims that Mr Sarkozy had illegally coerced L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt into donating to his 2007 presidential campaign. That investigation ended when prosecutors concluded they lacked evidence.
In her ruling today, Judge Christine Mee suspended two of the three years and said Mr Sarkozy could serve the…