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Hello and welcome to NewsHour.
It's coming to you live from the BBC World Service Studios in central London.
I'm Tim Franks.
We're going to begin with some news that has stunned France,
that the former president, Nicolas Sarkozy,
has been sentenced to five years in jail and that he'll have to serve time even if,
as he promises, he appeals against the conviction for criminal conspiracy.
The surprise, just to be clear, is not in the guilty verdict itself.
Mr. Sarkozy has other convictions to his name since he left the Elysée Palace in 2012.
And indeed, he's not the only post-war president to be convicted of an honour criminal charge.
But he is the first to be ordered to prison.
He's not there yet, that's likely to happen next month.
It's a remarkable fall for a man who, let's not forget,
was the president of a powerful country, a permanent member of the Security Council,
and who is still seen as influential in right-wing politics, and at a time in France,
as in so many countries, when there's deep disaffection about the established political classes.
Let's hear from the man himself, defiant after the judge had delivered her sentence.
I will assume my responsibilities.
I will obey the judicial summons, and if they absolutely want me to sleep in prison,