French president denounces death threats against magistrates over Sarkozy's conviction

ISTANBUL

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday denounced the death threats against magistrates following the conviction of former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

"The attacks and death threats, whether old or recent, against several magistrates are unacceptable; this is why I immediately asked the Minister of Justice and the Minister of the Interior, as soon as they occurred, to ensure that their perpetrators are identified and swiftly prosecuted," Macron wrote on the US social media company X.

Stressing that the rule of law is the foundation of France's democracy, he noted that the independence of the judiciary, its impartiality, and the protection of the magistrates are its "essential pillars."

"Court decisions may be commented on or criticized in public debate, but always with respect for everyone. They may also be challenged, in particular through the exercise of appeals," he added.

Macron's statement came after the Paris prosecutor’s office announced Friday that two separate investigations had been opened into threatening messages against the court president following Sarkozy's conviction, according to the broadcaster BFM TV.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced on Thursday to five years in prison for conspiracy in a case involving Libyan financing of his 2007 election campaign.

He is expected to be summoned by prosecutors within one month to inform him when he will begin serving his sentence.

The court found Sarkozy, who denied all wrongdoing, guilty of criminal conspiracy but cleared him of passive corruption and other illegal financing charges.

Sarkozy faced charges, including illegal campaign financing, concealment of embezzled public funds, and conspiracy.​

The prosecution characterized an alleged 2005 agreement between Sarkozy, then-interior minister, and then-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi—a pariah in the West—as a "pact of corruption inconceivable, unheard of, and indecent."

Sarkozy was elected France’s president in 2007 and served in the post until 2012.