Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to five years in prison in connection with receiving illegal payments from the government of Muammar Gaddafi to fund his 2007 presidential campaign. A court in Paris found Sarkozy guilty of criminal conspiracy, Meduza reports, citing Reuters.
The court sentenced Sarkozy to five years in prison, with a deferred sentence, meaning he will not serve immediate time behind bars. He was also fined €100,000. However, the court acquitted him of other charges, including embezzlement of public funds, passive corruption, and campaign financing violations.
Prosecutors had initially sought a seven-year sentence for the former president, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing throughout the trial.
Sarkozy was not arrested in the courtroom but is expected to report to the prosecution office in the coming days to determine the conditions of his sentence. According to France Info, he could be placed in custody within the next four months. However, the 70-year-old ex-president is eligible to apply for early release due to his age.
Sarkozy served as the president of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2011, he actively supported the military intervention in Libya, where an uprising against Gaddafi’s regime led to its downfall and the dictator’s death.
In March 2021, Sarkozy was convicted in a separate case for corruption and influence peddling, receiving a one-year prison sentence and two years of probation. In the fall of the same year, he was found guilty of illegally financing his 2012 election campaign and was sentenced to six months in prison, with the option to serve the term under house arrest using an electronic monitoring bracelet.
