A French court ruled Friday that recordings of the secretly-tapped conversations of France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy should be removed from a news website.
The court also ruled that Sarkozy's former adviser Patrick Buisson, who recorded the tapes that created the "Sarkoleaks" scandal, should pay €10,000 for damages to Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni.
Sarkozy's lawyer Thierry Herzog said the ruling was "satisfying".
Atlantico, the website affected by the judgement, has said it will appeal the ruling.
After the recordings were published by French weekly Le Canard Enchaine last week, Sarkozy's lawyers Herzog and Richard Malka said the former president and his wife have filed suits against those involved in the creation and publication of the recordings for “breaching private life”.
In the tapes recorded during Sarkozy’s 2012 election campaign, top presidential officials are heard mocking the attendance of Bruni at meetings at the Elysee Palace; his former aide Patrick Buisson can also be heard referring to Sarkozy as “the dwarf”.
Sarkozy, 59, who is planning a second bid for the presidency in 2017, after losing the 2012 election, is said to be furious at the revelations.
The scandal could destabilize Sarkozy's center-right Union for a Popular Movement (UPM) 18 days before municipal elections in which the party is hoping to reclaim several large cities from the ruling Socialist Party.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
