6 ms·

Ex-President Sarkozy Gets Jail Sentence for Corruption in France

132 points by jangid 6y ago

tasogare 6y ago
The gist of it is: « While the court handed down a three-year prison sentence, two of those years were suspended. If Mr. Sarkozy commits a new crime within a given time frame, a court could then order the sentence to be served in full. Mr. Sarkozy can request that his one-year term be served outside prison, for instance at home with an electronic bracelet. An appeal, which is widely expected, would place the entire sentence on hold. » So basically he’ll never be sent to prison for real, which is often the case for corrupt (ex-)politicians.
- nerbert 6y ago
  I’d say the humiliation of a bracelet is a step in the right direction.
  - agumonkey 6y ago
    Total stepdown from luxury watches.
    - meepmorp 6y ago
      Luxury house arrest anklets - the unicorn startup we deserve, not the one we need.
- ThePadawan 6y ago
  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that is common practice for a lot of non-violent first time offenders, not just politicians.
  - posterboy 6y ago
    I'm not following this closely, but from what I gathered from the news, two crimes were punished. Calling that a first time offense shouldn't fly.
    - inglor_cz 6y ago
      Where I am, you are a first time offender if you have no previous record, or your previous records were expunged (which happens after enough time has passed from the completion of the sentence, unless it was for terrorism, war crimes, genocide etc.). That does not mean that you won't ever get a custodial sentence - for crimes severe enough you surely will - but the benefit of having no prior record still applies to you.
- toto444 6y ago
  It is a bit ironic that his punishment is to stay at home. Most of us have spent the last year at home.
  - posterboy 6y ago
    laughs in ostrich
aphroz 6y ago
And he is also accused of having his presidential campaign financed by the Colonel Gaddafi who he later attacked. I doubt he will ever go to jail tho.
remh 6y ago
It's interesting to note how slow the French justice is. It took 7 years between the evidence being found by investigators and the trial. It's going to take a few more years with the appeal and in all cases he will never step foot in prison, which is ironic given that Sarkozy was a huge proponent of Zero Tolerance policies. Similarly, Jacques Chirac was condemned in 2011: 11 years after what he did became known, 16 years after he left the Mairie de Paris. At which point, his mental and physical health was so poor he didn't even stand in trial.
- aphextron 6y ago
  >It's going to take a few more years with the appeal and in all cases he will never step foot in prison, which is ironic given that Sarkozy was a huge proponent of Zero Tolerance policies. Hard to say if this is good or bad. On the one hand, no one is above the law. But sending presidents to prison for anything short of murder is a really risky proposition, and an extremely slippery slope. There's a reason we've never done it in the US, and it's not for any lack of corruption.
  - saiya-jin 6y ago
    Risky for what? To show that they are a common citizens from flesh an bones, or untouchable deities who can have blood of literally millions on their hands and live a happy easy life? Presidents are humans like us. Make them at least a bit responsible for their choices when in power, and there might be more good in the world. If they are crooks (which many are), there is absolutely 0 reason why they shouldn't be punished same as everybody else. Unless obviously you don't trust justice system at all. But even then the solution isn't to remove presidents from it, rather than fixing it.
    - zepto 6y ago
      There are two obvious risks: 1. The system may be used as a political weapon. I.e. the president may be used as a scapegoat for something, or be framed. 2. Fearing #1 or fearing legitimate prosecution, the president may try to illegitimately hold on to power. Both definitely happen in various countries.
wiz21c 6y ago
Et vous trouvez cela normal ?
- sudosysgen 6y ago
  En France? Absolument.
- ganeshkrishnan 6y ago
  c'est la normal
vntok 6y ago
Quelle indignité.
WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
In contrast: US (State & Fed) legislatures trade Gov power for campaign cash and other favors - every working day - and suffer no consequences at all. From my perspective, the issue is that voters+press+justice never, ever, ever object (barring the occasional pol who belongs to the other party).
- bpodgursky 6y ago
  Rod Blagojevich went to prison for this, so I don't think it's reasonable to say that no US governor suffers consequences.
- justin66 6y ago
  > From my perspective, the issue is that voters+press+justice never, ever, ever object Born before Citizens United? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC
ta988 6y ago
As it was the case with the medling in Africa of Total and Elf, we learn a lot about other crimes during the court hearings, but nothing can and will be done about those things.

132 points by jangid 6y ago

The gist of it is: « While the court handed down a three-year prison sentence, two of those years were suspended. If Mr. Sarkozy commits a new crime within a given time frame, a court could then order the sentence to be served in full. Mr. Sarkozy can request that his one-year term be served outside prison, for instance at home with an electronic bracelet. An appeal, which is widely expected, would place the entire sentence on hold. » So basically he’ll never be sent to prison for real, which is often the case for corrupt (ex-)politicians.

nerbert 6y ago
I’d say the humiliation of a bracelet is a step in the right direction.
- agumonkey 6y ago
  Total stepdown from luxury watches.
  - meepmorp 6y ago
    Luxury house arrest anklets - the unicorn startup we deserve, not the one we need.
ThePadawan 6y ago
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that is common practice for a lot of non-violent first time offenders, not just politicians.
- posterboy 6y ago
  I'm not following this closely, but from what I gathered from the news, two crimes were punished. Calling that a first time offense shouldn't fly.
  - inglor_cz 6y ago
    Where I am, you are a first time offender if you have no previous record, or your previous records were expunged (which happens after enough time has passed from the completion of the sentence, unless it was for terrorism, war crimes, genocide etc.). That does not mean that you won't ever get a custodial sentence - for crimes severe enough you surely will - but the benefit of having no prior record still applies to you.
toto444 6y ago
It is a bit ironic that his punishment is to stay at home. Most of us have spent the last year at home.
- posterboy 6y ago
  laughs in ostrich

aphroz 6y ago

And he is also accused of having his presidential campaign financed by the Colonel Gaddafi who he later attacked. I doubt he will ever go to jail tho.

remh 6y ago

It's interesting to note how slow the French justice is. It took 7 years between the evidence being found by investigators and the trial. It's going to take a few more years with the appeal and in all cases he will never step foot in prison, which is ironic given that Sarkozy was a huge proponent of Zero Tolerance policies. Similarly, Jacques Chirac was condemned in 2011: 11 years after what he did became known, 16 years after he left the Mairie de Paris. At which point, his mental and physical health was so poor he didn't even stand in trial.

aphextron 6y ago
>It's going to take a few more years with the appeal and in all cases he will never step foot in prison, which is ironic given that Sarkozy was a huge proponent of Zero Tolerance policies. Hard to say if this is good or bad. On the one hand, no one is above the law. But sending presidents to prison for anything short of murder is a really risky proposition, and an extremely slippery slope. There's a reason we've never done it in the US, and it's not for any lack of corruption.
- saiya-jin 6y ago
  Risky for what? To show that they are a common citizens from flesh an bones, or untouchable deities who can have blood of literally millions on their hands and live a happy easy life? Presidents are humans like us. Make them at least a bit responsible for their choices when in power, and there might be more good in the world. If they are crooks (which many are), there is absolutely 0 reason why they shouldn't be punished same as everybody else. Unless obviously you don't trust justice system at all. But even then the solution isn't to remove presidents from it, rather than fixing it.
  - zepto 6y ago
    There are two obvious risks: 1. The system may be used as a political weapon. I.e. the president may be used as a scapegoat for something, or be framed. 2. Fearing #1 or fearing legitimate prosecution, the president may try to illegitimately hold on to power. Both definitely happen in various countries.

wiz21c 6y ago

Et vous trouvez cela normal ?

sudosysgen 6y ago
En France? Absolument.
ganeshkrishnan 6y ago
c'est la normal

vntok 6y ago

Quelle indignité.

WarOnPrivacy 6y ago

In contrast: US (State & Fed) legislatures trade Gov power for campaign cash and other favors - every working day - and suffer no consequences at all. From my perspective, the issue is that voters+press+justice never, ever, ever object (barring the occasional pol who belongs to the other party).

bpodgursky 6y ago
Rod Blagojevich went to prison for this, so I don't think it's reasonable to say that no US governor suffers consequences.
justin66 6y ago
> From my perspective, the issue is that voters+press+justice never, ever, ever object Born before Citizens United? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC

ta988 6y ago

As it was the case with the medling in Africa of Total and Elf, we learn a lot about other crimes during the court hearings, but nothing can and will be done about those things.