🔗 Share this article

As he arrived at La Santé prison this week, the former French leader published a statement overflowing with defiance via social media, stating, "This isn't a ex-leader of the nation entering prison this morning, it's an wrongfully accused individual." A court of appeal will in time give its view the veracity of that statement. However, regrettably for the ex-president, the turmoil and importance of his downfall cannot be ignored.

The Conviction

President of France from 2007 to 2012, Mr Sarkozy was judged culpable of criminal conspiracy to secure illegal financing from the administration of the deceased Libyan leader, Colonel Gaddafi. Sentenced to a five-year sentence, he has emerged as the pioneering past president of an EU member state to go behind bars, and the earliest French head of state since the disgraced head of the Vichy regime, the Vichy leader. In a country where the elected president possesses a quasi-monarchical status, the recent extraordinary spectacle was a defining instance.

Public Trust and Judicial Responsibility

In an era when confidence in political systems in France has plummeted to the degree where warning signs are evident, it was also a instructive example that the law applies to all. According to a survey released on Tuesday, over 65% of those surveyed indicated that they believed a most of elected officials were dishonest, and the vast majority claimed that the majority acted mainly out of personal gain. While judging Mr Sarkozy and mandating that his sentence should start immediately, the court official, the judge, said that she considered both the exceptionally grave nature of the violations and the fact that they were "likely to undermine citizens' trust."

Judicial Threats

These considerations might be deemed typical, especially given that the ex-president has before been convicted in other graft trials. However the former president's case and its consequences have disturbingly laid bare the scope to which in France, as in different nations, the judicial framework is threatened by a increasingly common contempt for the judiciary and the attempted manipulation of societal perspectives.

In Trumpian fashion, an exhaustive and meticulous court case has been groundlessly presented by his backers as a courtroom scheme and leftwing vendetta. Following the ruling in September, the former president openly condemned his punishment as invalid and decried the "animosity" with "no restraints" that allegedly motivated it. While senior politicians and advocates from the conservative and extremist have filled the airwaves and right-leaning media with the identical arguments, the judge has been subjected to numerous death threats.

Societal Feedback

Hearteningly, the citizens seems unconvinced. A survey after the ruling found comfortable majorities backing both the handling of the courtroom process and his punishment. But the turmoil, and the obvious try to weaken the standing of the court system, was in all likelihood merely a dress rehearsal. Next year, the National Rally figure's legal challenge against a guilty verdict for diversion of electoral finances will be heard. Should she lose it, the political candidate will be ruled out from competing in the future campaign.

Coming Consequences

Within a divided and skeptical country, that will be a dangerous time for the country's courts to handle. Mr Sarkozy might eventually exit prior to his appeal hearing, subsequent to a petition by his attorneys. Yet the unfounded and damaging assaults on the judicial framework throughout his trial have established a harmful example.