Nicolas Sarkozy sentenced to five years for 2007 Libyan cash campaign

Gaspard Sebag 

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was convicted by Paris judges and handed a five-year jail term for criminal conspiracy at a trial over allegations his 2007 winning campaign was covertly funded by millions of euros from the late Moammar Qaddafi’s regime. 

The judges decided that any appeal by Sarkozy wouldn’t lift the execution of the sentence. Agence France-Presse said that he is due to be summoned within a month to learn the start of his jail term. The court nevertheless cleared him of more serious charges of embezzlement of Libyan funds, corruption and illegal campaign financing. 

Paris judge Nathalie Gavarino said Sarkozy had let people in his entourage reach out to Libyan authorities “in order to obtain or attempt to obtain financial support in Libya” for his 2007 presidential campaign, according to AFP. Some of his aides at the time were also convicted on Thursday. 

Sarkozy has consistently denied wrongdoing. Christophe Ingrain, one of his lawyers, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Prosecutors had requested a seven-year prison term for France’s 2007-2012 leader. 

After scaling the heights of French politics to win the presidency in 2007, Sarkozy has battled a variety of accusations since his failed 2012 reelection bid. This latest trial is the third separate criminal case that has brought him to court and comes after the 70-year-old lost a final appeal in December to overturn a historic corruption conviction.