Former President of the Republic Nicolas Sarkozy has definitively lost the Legion of Honor, the highest official distinction in France, due to the three-year corruption conviction in May 2023, confirmed last December by an appeals court. Sarkozy, 70, thus goes down in history as the second Head of State "stripped" of the Legion of Honor; the first was Philippe Pétain, after his 1945 conviction for high treason and conspiracy with the Nazi enemy during World War II.
Former Syrian President Bashar Assad, former producer Harvey Weinstein, and seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong are among other prominent figures who have fallen into "disgrace" and lost the distinction in recent years.
Legal battles have become a daily occurrence for Nicolas Sarkozy due to his activities before, during, and after his time at the Élysée Palace, between 2007 and 2012. The former president will indeed be sentenced again in September for the largest case of illegal financing in recent French history: the alleged diversion of funds from former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi to finance his 2007 campaign. The prosecutor has requested seven years in prison for him.
Despite all the legal troubles, Sarkozy remains an influential figure behind the scenes in his old conservative party, The Republicans. Emmanuel Macron also maintains relatively frequent contact with him, and last April even publicly spoke out against the loss of the prestigious distinction: "It is very important that former presidents be respected."
The official newspaper, however, formalized the withdrawal of the Legion of Honor on Sunday, with retroactive effects to May 17, 2023, when he was sentenced to three years in prison (two of which were suspended) for attempting to corrupt a Supreme Court judge to obtain confidential information about the judicial investigation he was undergoing.
According to the Legion of Honor code, anyone sentenced to a prison term of one year or more is excluded from the Order. Sarkozy, who until this month wore an electronic bracelet, continues to maintain his innocence in the case and has filed a final appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.