On Wednesday, December 18, the Cour de Cassation, France's highest court of appeals, upheld the sentence to which former president Nicolas Sarkozy had been condemned – a three-year jail term, two of which would be suspended and one that would take the form of home detention with an electronic tag allowing his movements to be monitored – in the "Paul Bismuth" corruption case. He was found guilty of having tried to obtain secret information about another case concerning him from a magistrate at the Cour de Cassation. This decision comes as part of a long litany of judicial cases implicating the former French president, who served from 2007-2012.

This comes in addition to the legal proceedings concerning the Bygmalion communications agency, which have brought to light a system of false invoices used to conceal massive overspending on election campaign expenses – a sum far greater than the legally authorized amount authorized – during the 2012 presidential campaign. This case has led to Sarkozy being sentenced on appeal to a one-year jail term, and it is currently the subject of a final appeal to the Cour de Cassation. Finally, five other cases concern the former president, either as a principal offender or a secondary party.

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