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Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been stripped of the Legion of Honor, the country's highest decoration, after his corruption conviction was upheld last year, according to an official decree published on Sunday.
The one-term conservative president has faced legal troubles since leaving office in 2012. In December, France's highest court upheld his conviction for influence peddling and corruption, ordering him to wear an electronic tag on his ankle for 12 months.
Sarkozy, who remains a prominent figure in French politics, was found guilty by a lower court in 2021 of attempting to bribe a judge and exerting influence in exchange for confidential information related to an investigation into his 2007 campaign finances.
Sarkozy, who had his electronic tag removed this month, has taken the case to the European Court of Human Rights for an appeal. His lawyer, Patrice Spinosi, said he had considered revoking the award, but stressed that the appeal was still pending.
A final ECHR ruling against France would "imply the review of the criminal conviction against Sarkozy, as well as his exclusion from the Legion of Honor order," Spinosi said on Sunday.
Emmanuel Macron argued against the decision, but the rules of France's highest state award stipulate that any recipient ultimately convicted of a prison sentence equal to or greater than one year will be excluded from the order.
The French president, who is known for regular meetings with Sarkozy, had argued that his predecessor had been elected to the country's highest office and it was "very important that former presidents are respected."
The only previous former president to have his Legion of Honor revoked was Nazi collaborator Philippe Pétain, head of the Vichy regime in wartime France, who was convicted in August 1945 of high treason and conspiracy with the enemy.
Others who have been stripped of the honor include former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who was found to have used performance-enhancing drugs, and film producer Harvey Weinstein, convicted of sexually abusing women.
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