Former Paris mayor Jean Tiberi was sentenced to a suspended 10-month in prison and fined 10,000 euros(13,900 U.S. dollars) for vote-rigging by a court here on Wednesday.

The court believed that Tiberi "harmed the truthfulness of the vote by using rigged measure" in the elections of the fifth arrondissement of Paris from 1994 to 1997.

Tiberi's wife Xaviere was given a nine-month suspended sentence and fined 5,000 euro (6,950 U.S. dollars). The deputy mayor of the fifth arrondissement of Paris Anne-Marie Affret was also given a nine-month suspended sentence and fined 1,500 euro (2,085 U.S. dollars). Tiberi's secretary and the head of his election office were also given sentences.

Tiberi's lawyer said on Wednesday Tiberi will appeal his case.

Tiberi was Paris mayor from 1995 to 2001 and now is still mayor of the fifth arrondissement of Paris and is a deputy in the National Assembly. Despite his denials, the court judged that Tiberi was "not only the main beneficiary" of the vote-rigging, but also had personally been involved in the fraud.

The vote-rigging was initially reported by Le Canard Enchaine. The French weekly reported that Tiberi had added 3,000 to 4,000 fake voters to the electoral rolls illegally. The investigation found that Tiberi used the kindergarten quota, housing and work opportunities in Paris city hall as baits to make electorates from other arrondissements registered to his electoral rolls.

Source: Xinhua