Ex-president Sarkozy stripped of France’s top honour after conviction

PARIS: Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been stripped of his Legion of Honour -- the country’s highest distinction -- following a conviction for graft, according to a decree published Sunday.

The right-winger has been beset by legal problems since he was defeated in the 2012 presidential election after serving one five-year term.

Sarkozy, 70, had been wearing an electronic ankle tag until last month after France’s highest appeals court upheld his conviction last December of trying to illegally secure favours from a judge.

According to the code of the Legion of Honour, France’s top state award, any person definitively sentenced to a term in prison equal to or greater than one year is excluded from the order.

But French President Emmanuel Macron had argued against such a move in April, saying that scandal-plagued Sarkozy had been elected and it was “very important that former presidents are respected”.