By Tassilo Hummel

PARIS French former president Nicolas Sarkozy lost his appeal against a 2021 conviction for corruption and influence peddling at the Paris Court of Appeals on Wednesday.

The court upheld a three-year prison sentence. It said two of those years were suspended and that Sarkozy would wear an electronic bracelet instead of going to jail for the remaining year.

Sarkozy arrived in court wearing a dark grey suit and appearing nervous. He fistbumped his lawyers and smiled occasionally as he took his seat before proceedings started.

A lower court in 2021 had found Sarkozy guilty of trying to bribe a judge after leaving office, and of peddling influence in exchange for confidential information about an investigation into his 2007 campaign finances.

It marked a stunning fall from grace for a former president who once bestrode the world, and is one of several legal battles Sarkozy has been fighting over the past decade.

Sarkozy, 68, who served one term as French president from 2007 to 2012, has constantly denied any wrongdoing.

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; editing by Richard Lough, Mark Heinrich and Bernadette Baum)