French court upholds jail sentence for ex-president Sarkozy in corruption case

He is to serve home detention for one year, be banned three years from public office

PARIS - A French appeals court on Wednesday upheld a prison sentence of three years, including two suspended, against former president Nicolas Sarkozy for corruption and influence peddling.

The court ruled he should serve one year in detention at home with an electronic bracelet and banned him from public office for three years.

He had been found guilty over his attempts to secure favours from a judge in return for the promise of a plum retirement job in a case uncovered by wiretapping.

Sarkozy, 68, is France's first postwar president to have been sentenced to serve time.

But his lawyers said they would appeal against the sentence before the Court of Cassation, France's highest appeals court, which would suspend the punishment from being implemented.

"Sarkozy is innocent... We will not give up this fight," said lawyer Jacqueline Laffont.

The exact terms of any home detention, once the appeals process has been exhausted, were not immediately clear.

Sarkozy, who was president for one term between 2007 and 2012, has been embroiled in legal troubles ever since leaving office.