A Paris court has found the ex-French President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of criminal conspiracy in the matter of taking campaign finance for his presidential election from Muammar Gaddafi’s Libyan regime from 2005 to 2007. The other charges against Sarkozy, including embezzlement of public funds, passive corruption and campaign finance crimes, were acquitted. The former president will be sentenced later. The prosecution had initially requested a seven-year prison term on all counts.
In the course of trial Sarkozy dismissed the charges and denied any allegations.
He held office between 2007 and 2012. In 2011, he was a strong supporter of intervening militarily in Libya, where a revolution against Gaddafi had only just begun. Foreign bombardment helped the rebels build their strength to the point where they defeated Gaddafi’s regime and killed the leader himself.
This is not Sarkozy’s first trial. He was, in March 2021, convicted of corruption and influence peddling: his initial sentence was one year in prison and two years probation, but the sentence was replaced by being fitted with an electronic tag and half house arrest.
During the autumn of the same year, Sarkozy was found guilty of secretly financing his 2012 presidential campaign. He was initially sentenced to a year in prison, but it was later reduced to six months, with the possibility of serving it under electronic tag.
