The former French President Nicola Sarkozy has been given a three-year sentence for corruption and influence peddling, along with two of his previous associates.
M. Sarkozy, 66, was found guilty of trying to obtain confidential information pertaining to a criminal inquiry into his own political party, by bribing judge Gilbert Azibert with an appealing job offer in Monaco.
He has been sentenced to one year in prison and a two-year suspended sentence, making him the first president to serve actual time behind bars since Marshall Philippe Pétain, the wartime Nazi collaborator.
The court said Sarkozy will be entitled to request to be detained at home with an electronic bracelet.
Azibert and Sarkozy's former laywer Thierry Herzog were also sentenced to three years, although it is understood they are likely to be able to spend their prison time at home.
France’s National Financial Prosecutors’ Office, (PNF) accused the three defendants of being engaged in a "corruption pact" to advance their careers.
Sarkozy, who was president between 2007 and 2012, will face another trial later this month along with 13 other people on charges of illegal financing of his 2012 presidential campaign.
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