Nicolas Sarkozy sentenced to jail for campaign finance scandal

A Paris court on Thursday found former French President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of criminal association for attempting to use Libya to finance his campaign illegally, The Associated Press reported. He has been sentenced to five years in jail and fined €100,000 (approximately $117,000).

Although he has indicated he plans to appeal, Sarkozy must still report to jail while his appeal proceeds, which will make him the first former French president to serve time.

Sarkozy, who was president from 2007 to 2012, has been accused of using the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi to fund his 2007 election campaign. Sarkozy has denied any wrongdoing and characterized his legal troubles as politically motivated. Speaking to reporters in French after exiting the courtroom, he called his verdict an “injustice” and “a scandal.”

However, the court acquitted Sarkozy of illegal campaign finance charges, citing insufficient evidence to prove he actually benefited from such a scheme. He was also acquitted of two other charges of corruption and embezzlement. Sarkozy was previously convicted of corruption and influence-peddling in 2021, for which he spent a brief sentence under house arrest, and, in another case he is appealing, of exceeding campaign spending limits.

Gadhafi, who was killed in a 2011 uprising during the Arab Spring, tried to change the global perception of Libya, which at the time was widely considered a pariah state. That year, Gadhafi claimed to a French journalist that he had funded Sarkozy’s campaign, saying, “Sarkozy is mentally deficient. … It’s thanks to me that he became president. … We gave him the funds that allowed him to win.”