Sarkozy convicted by French court in campaign financing case

By SYLVIE CORBET and NICOLAS VAUX-MONTAGNY
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — French ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy has been convicted and sentenced to a year of house arrest for illegal campaign financing of his unsuccessful 2012 reelection bid. He has decided to appeal the ruling. The court said Thursday he would be allowed to serve the sentence at home by wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet. Sarkozy’s lawyer noted that the sentence corresponds to the maximum his client faced. He said he had spoken with Sarkozy who had asked him to appeal. He added that “the verdict won’t be enforceable” pending appeal. Sarkozy has vigorously denied wrongdoing. He is accused of having spent almost twice the maximum legal amount of 22.5 million euros ($27.5 million) on the reelection bid that he lost to Socialist Francois Hollande.