French Court Dismisses Sarkozy Lawyer’s Attempt To Merge Jail Sentences

The decision may require the ex-president — who served one term from 2007 to 2012 and has faced a series of legal issues since leaving office — to again wear an electronic ankle tag.

Last year, Sarkozy became modern France’s first president to have gone to jail, serving 20 days in a case related to alleged Libyan funding in his 2007 election campaign.

In December 2024, he exhausted his last legal recourse in the so-called “Bismuth” case for trying to extract favours from a judge and served a sentence with an electronic ankle tag that was removed in May last year after several months — allowed due to his age.

In November last year, he received his second final conviction in what is known as the “Bygmalion” case over illegal financing of his failed 2012 re-election bid. France’s highest court upheld a sentence of six months.

During a closed hearing in late February, the former head of state requested that his six‑month custodial sentence in the Bygmalion case be considered served by virtue of the electronic tag he wore last year in connection with the Bismuth case.

His lawyer, Vincent Desry, declined to comment after the hearing but had earlier told AFP that a request to merge sentences was “extremely routine”.

The request is only possible if various criteria are met, including that the sentences in separate proceedings be of the same nature and have exhausted all appeals.

Sarkozy will again be in court from March 16, for the appeal in the case against him related to alleged Libyan funding in his earlier election campaign.

The former president, who has denied the charges, was sentenced to five years in jail for criminal conspiracy.

Sarkozy is the first French leader to be incarcerated since Philippe Petain, the Nazi collaborationist head of state, who was jailed after World War II.

He remains an influential figure on the right despite the legal problems that have dogged him since leaving office.