The editorial staff of LCI –
It was in the middle of the afternoon that the four convictions and the release were pronounced. This Friday, the former secretary general of the presidency Claude Guéant as well as four former advisers and collaborators of Nicolas Sarkozy, suspected of favoritism or embezzlement of public funds, were fixed on their fate at the beginning of the afternoon in the the so-called Élysée polls affair.
Claude Guéant was sentenced to one year in prison, including 8 months, with a deferred deposit warrant. His lawyer announced that his client was going to appeal his conviction. Shortly after 2 p.m., the court began to read the judgment in the absence of Claude Guéant, 77. Imprisoned in the prison of Health for more than a month because of a previous conviction, he asked not to be extracted and to be represented by his lawyer.
Patrick Buisson, then a close adviser to the Head of State, was given a two-year suspended prison sentence and a 150,000 euro fine and the former pollster Pierre Giacometti was given a 6-month suspended sentence and a 70,000 euro fine. At the time director of cabinet, Emmanuelle Mignon was sanctioned with a 6-month suspended sentence. On the other hand, the former opinion leader Julien Vaulpré was released.