France’s highest appeals court has confirmed a verdict against the former president Nicolas Sarkozy for corruption and influence peddling, ordering him to wear an electronic tag for a year, a first for a former head of state.

Sarkozy, who had earlier been found guilty of illegal attempts to secure favours from a judge, will “evidently” respect the terms of the conviction after the court of cassation’s verdict but will take the case to the European court of human rights for appeal, his lawyer told Agence France-Presse.

Sarkozy had appealed against his 2021 conviction, for which he had been handed a three-year prison sentence. Two of the years were suspended and Sarkozy would wear an electronic monitoring bracelet instead of going to prison for the last year.

Patrice Spinosi, Sarkozy’s lawyer, said he would appeal to the European court for human rights to challenge the ruling.

Spinosi added Sarkozy would comply with the ruling, but would continue to use all legal means available to him to prove his innocence.

Sarkozy, a conservative who remains an important figure in French politics even after leaving office in 2012, had been found guilty by a lower court of trying to bribe a judge and of peddling influence in exchange for confidential information about an investigation into his 2007 campaign finances.

The court found that Sarkozy conspired to secure a job in Monaco for a judge in exchange for inside information about an investigation into allegations that Sarkozy had accepted illegal payments from the L’Oréal heir Liliane Bettencourt.

The judge, Gilbert Azibert, was also convicted for corruption and influence peddling.

Sarkozy is expected to stand trial next year on corruption and illegal financing charges related to alleged Libyan funding of his successful 2007 presidential bid. Sarkozy denies all wrongdoing. If convicted in the Libya case, Sarkozy could face up to 10 years in prison.

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Sarkozy’s predecessor, Jacques Chirac, a fellow conservative, is the only other president in modern French history to be convicted by a court. Chirac was found guilty of corruption in 2011, four years after he left office.

AFP and Reuters contributed to this report