Nicolas Sarkozy sentenced to five years in prison over alleged Libyan campaign financing 

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been convicted of passive corruption, concealment of embezzled public funds, illegal campaign financing and conspiracy in connection with suspicions that his 2007 presidential campaign received money from Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya.

Last Thursday, the Paris Criminal Court sentenced him to five years in prison, imposed a fine of €100,000 and ruled him ineligible for public office for five years. The sentence was declared immediately enforceable, meaning he will be incarcerated despite his appeal. The court found that he had “allowed his associates” to seek funds from Libya in order to illegally finance his campaign.

It is the first time under the Fifth Republic that a former president will be sent to prison.

In its judgment, the court stressed that these were “acts of exceptional gravity, liable to undermine citizens’ trust in those who represent them and are supposed to act in the public interest, as well as in the very institutions of the Republic.”

Eight people were convicted in this trial, including former head of state Nicolas Sarkozy, former Secretary-General of the Élysée Claude Guéant, and former minister Brice Hortefeux.

Eight people were convicted in the trial, including Sarkozy, former Élysée Secretary-General Claude Guéant and former minister Brice Hortefeux.

Sarkozy denounced the ruling as of “extreme seriousness for the rule of law.” He is due to appear on 13 October to be informed of the conditions of his imprisonment.