A court in Paris found former French President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of criminal conspiracy in the case of financing his election campaign by the Libyan government of Muammar Gaddafi in 2005-2007.
Sarkozy was found not guilty on other charges in the same case – embezzlement of public funds, passive corruption and campaign finance violations.
The former president will be sentenced later. At first, the prosecutor’s office demanded seven years in prison on a combination of charges.
The 70-year-old Sarkozy denied the charges throughout the process.
Sarkozy was president of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2011, he was one of the most vocal supporters of military intervention in Libya, where an uprising against Gaddafi began. Foreign bombing helped the rebels improve their position, Gaddafi’s regime was toppled, and he himself was killed.
Sarkozy was found guilty of influence peddling and corruption in March 2021. The sentence included a year in prison and two years of probation, with the real term replaced by wearing an electronic bracelet and partial house arrest.
In autumn 2021, Sarkozy was found guilty in another criminal case – illegal financing of the 2012 campaign. At first he received a year in prison, later the sentence was reduced to six months, and with the possibility of replacing the imprisonment with the wearing of an electronic bracelet.