A Paris court convicted former French President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence-peddling on Monday and sentenced him to a year in prison.
The 66-year-old, who was president from 2007 to 2012, was found guilty of trying to illegally obtain information on another case against him from a judge in return for promises to use his influence to secure a job for the judge.
This is the first time in modern France that a former president is being convicted of a crime. Earlier, Sarkozy’s predecessor, Jacques Chirac, is the only other president under France’s post-war Fifth Republic to have faced trial after leaving office.
The arrest of the retired politician was a big blow as he still holds influence amongst French conservationists.
While the court handed down a three-year prison sentence to Nicolas Sarkozy, two of those years were suspended. He can ask to serve the remaining one year time at home and also plans to appeal.
It’s not the end of his legal troubles either: He faces another trial later this month and is also under investigation in a third case. In another investigation opened in 2013, Sarkozy is accused of having taken millions from then-Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi to illegally finance his successful 2007 campaign.
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