Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been officially excluded from the prestigious National Order of the Legion of Honor, according to a state decree published on Sunday. The revocation follows Sarkozy’s 2022 conviction for corruption and influence peddling.
The Legion of Honor (Légion d’honneur), established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, is France’s highest decoration. It recognizes exemplary civil or military service and is a symbol of exceptional merit. French law requires that any recipient sentenced to a prison term of one year or more be stripped of the honor.
Sarkozy’s exclusion relates to his conviction in the so-called “wiretapping affair.” In 2021, the former president, who led France from 2007 to 2012, was found guilty of attempting to bribe a judge in exchange for confidential information about a separate investigation into his 2007 presidential campaign.
In 2023, Sarkozy was sentenced to three years in prison, including two years suspended, with the remaining year to be served under house arrest with electronic monitoring. In late 2024, France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, upheld the sentence after Sarkozy’s appeals were exhausted.
This decision makes Sarkozy only the second French head of state to be stripped of the Legion of Honor. The first was Marshal Philippe Pétain, leader of the Nazi-aligned Vichy regime during World War II, who was convicted of high treason in 1945.
