PARIS (AP) — France’s former President Nicolas Sarkozy has been stripped of his Legion of Honor medal after being convicted final yr of corruption and affect peddling whereas he was the nation’s head of state, it was introduced on Sunday.
The choice was made through a decree launched within the Journal Officiel that publishes the federal government’s main authorized info. It comes in keeping with the principles of the Legion of Honor.
The conservative politician, who was president from 2007 to 2012, has been on the coronary heart of a collection of authorized instances since leaving workplace.
He was discovered responsible of corruption and affect peddling by each a Paris courtroom in 2021 and an appeals courtroom in 2023 for attempting to bribe a Justice of the Peace in trade for details about a authorized case through which he was implicated.
He was sentenced to put on an digital monitoring bracelet for one yr, a verdict upheld by France’s highest courtroom, the Court docket of Cassation, in December.
Earlier this yr, Sarkozy stood trial over allegations he obtained tens of millions of {dollars} from Libya for his profitable presidential marketing campaign in 2007. He denies the claims. Prosecutors requested a seven-year jail sentence. The decision is anticipated in September.
Sarkozy turns into the second former head of state to be stripped of the Legion of Honor — France’s highest distinction — after Nazi collaborator Philippe Petain, who was convicted in 1945 for treason and conspiring with the enemy for his actions as chief of Vichy France from 1940-1944.
Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was stripped of his Legion of Honor award within the wake of widespread sexual misconduct allegations in opposition to him in 2017. Disgraced bicycle owner and former Tour de France star Lance Armstrong additionally had his French Legion of Honor award revoked.
Sarkozy retired from public life in 2017 although nonetheless performs an influential function in French conservative politics.
