French ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy could return to prison
Former President of France Nicolas Sarkozy (Photo: Getty Images)
A French court has rejected former French President Nicolas Sarkozy's request to combine the punishments in the Bismuth and Bygmalion cases. The politician must now separately serve a six-month sentence with an electronic bracelet, reports BFMTV.
A court in France rejected the request by the country's former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, to combine the punishments in the Bismuth and Bygmalion cases, according to anonymous sources cited by BFMTV.
According to journalists, the decision was made on March 9. Sarkozy had asked that his six-month prison sentence in the Bygmalion case be considered already served, since in 2025 he wore an electronic bracelet for several months in another case - Bismuth (more details about these cases are provided below).
However, the court still rejected the ex-president's request. Thus, Sarkozy will have to serve the sentence separately.
This refers to a six-month prison term, which may be served in the form of house arrest with an electronic bracelet.
What is known about the cases
The Bismuth case is related to a corruption investigation. The investigation established that Sarkozy used a secret phone, registered under the name Paul Bismuth, to obtain confidential information from a judge through his lawyer.
The Bygmalion case concerns the illegal financing of Sarkozy's 2012 presidential campaign. According to the investigation, campaign expenses significantly exceeded the legal limit, and part of the expenses were concealed through fictitious invoices processed through the PR agency Bygmalion.
As a result, the politician was found guilty of violating election campaign financing rules.
New court hearing
At the same time, on March 16, Sarkozy will appear in court again. This concerns the appeal process in the case alleging that Libya financed his 2007 presidential campaign.
In November last year, the Paris court decided to release Sarkozy from prison early, replacing imprisonment with judicial supervision pending the consideration of his appeal.
As reported, on September 25, 2025, the Paris court sentenced Nicolas Sarkozy to five years in prison, one of which was suspended. This was the first time in the history of modern France that a former head of state was imprisoned.
