This article is from the source 'rtcom' and was first published or seen on . The next check for changes will be

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.rt.com/news/625244-sarkozy-prison-sentence-france/

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Ex-French president sentenced to five years in prison  Sarkozy sentenced to five years over Libya links
(about 1 hour later)
Nicolas Sarkozy has been convicted of criminal conspiracy over Libya campaign funds The former French president spearheaded a war that destroyed the African country
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to five years in prison after a Paris court found him guilty of criminal conspiracy for receiving campaign funding from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to five years in prison after a Paris court found him guilty of criminal conspiracy after campaign funding from the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. It is the first time in modern French history that a former head of state has been imprisoned.
Judges ruled on Thursday that Sarkozy, who led France from 2007 to 2012, benefited from secret payments linked to his 2007 presidential campaign and ordered him to begin serving the term even if he appeals. The start of his sentence will be set at a later date. Judges ruled on Thursday that Sarkozy, president of France from 2007 to 2012, benefited from secret payments from Gaddafi for his 2007 presidential campaign and ordered him to begin serving his sentence even if he appeals.
The case began in 2011, when Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam claimed his father had financed Sarkozy’s campaign with about €50 million ($54.3 million). The following year, Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine alleged he had delivered €5 million from Tripoli to Paris in 2006, though he later withdrew the claim. French police opened a formal probe in 2013. The case began in 2011, amid the brutal war that destroyed Libya, when Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam claimed his father had given about €50 million ($54.3 million) to Sarkozy’s campaign.
Prosecutors said Sarkozy made a deal with Gaddafi in 2005, while serving as interior minister, to secure campaign funds in exchange for supporting Libya’s reintegration on the world stage. The court convicted him of conspiracy but acquitted him of passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, and concealment of embezzlement. The then-French president was at the forefront of the NATO-backed regime-change war in Libya that led to Gadaffi's brutal murder in October 2011. Unleashed after Sarkozy appeared in Benghazi to support emergent rebel groups, the war deployed thousands of Jihadists into the country, imposed a no-fly zone over it, destroyed its economy to this day, and opened an immigrant 'corridor of misery' into southern Europe.
During the trial, Sarkozy dismissed the charges as politically motivated, describing the case as a “plot” by the “Gaddafi clan” and calling his accusers “liars and crooks.” He can appeal, which would delay the sentence, though prosecutors had pressed for seven years in prison. In 2012, Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine alleged he had delivered €5 million from Tripoli to Paris in 2006, though he later withdrew the claim. French police opened a formal probe in 2013.
The 70-year-old has been on trial since January. The court ruled that the conspiracy occurred between 2005 and 2007, before he gained presidential immunity. Prosecutors alleged while he was French interior minister, Sarkozy made a deal with Gaddafi for campaign funds in exchange for facilitating Libya’s reintegration into international politics. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was also involved in the project.
Sarkozy has a long history of legal entanglements. In December 2024, France’s highest court upheld a corruption and influence-peddling conviction from 2021 and ordered him to wear an electronic tag for a year. He was also sentenced for illegal campaign financing tied to his failed 2012 re-election bid, serving the term at home under monitoring. Earlier in 2025, he was stripped of the Legion of Honor under rules that remove members given prison terms of at least one year. The court convicted Sarkozy, who dismissed the charges as a politically motivated “plot” by the “Gaddafi clan” led by “liars and crooks,” of conspiracy, but acquitted him of passive corruption, illegal campaign financing and concealment of embezzlement.
The court ruled that the conspiracy occurred between 2005 and 2007, before he gained presidential immunity.
In December 2024, France’s highest court upheld a corruption and influence-peddling conviction from 2021 against Sarkozy and ordered him to wear an electronic tag for a year. He was also sentenced for illegal campaign financing tied to his failed 2012 re-election bid, serving the term under house arrest.
Earlier in 2025, he was stripped of the Legion of Honor.