It's interesting to note how slow the French justice is.
It took 7 years between the evidence being found by investigators and the trial.
It's going to take a few more years with the appeal and in all cases he will never step foot in prison, which is ironic given that Sarkozy was a huge proponent of Zero Tolerance policies.<p>Similarly, Jacques Chirac was condemned in 2011: 11 years after what he did became known, 16 years after he left the Mairie de Paris. At which point, his mental and physical health was so poor he didn't even stand in trial.
In contrast: US (State & Fed) legislatures trade Gov power for campaign cash and other favors - every working day - and suffer no consequences at all.<p>From my perspective, the issue is that voters+press+justice never, ever, ever object (barring the occasional pol who belongs to the other party).
The gist of it is: « While the court handed down a three-year prison sentence, two of those years were suspended. If Mr. Sarkozy commits a new crime within a given time frame, a court could then order the sentence to be served in full.<p>Mr. Sarkozy can request that his one-year term be served outside prison, for instance at home with an electronic bracelet. An appeal, which is widely expected, would place the entire sentence on hold. »<p>So basically he’ll never be sent to prison for real, which is often the case for corrupt (ex-)politicians.
As it was the case with the medling in Africa of Total and Elf, we learn a lot about other crimes during the court hearings, but nothing can and will be done about those things.