Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president of France, has been handed a five-year prison sentence after being declared guilty of criminal conspiracy linked to millions of euros in illicit funds from the late Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.
He was acquitted of all other charges by the Paris criminal court, which included passive corruption and illegal campaign financing.
This ruling implies he will serve time in prison even if an appeal is filed, which Sarkozy has stated he plans to do.
After the hearing on Thursday, Sarkozy, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, remarked that the ruling is “extremely serious for the rule of law”.
Sarkozy, who asserts that the allegations are politically driven, faced accusations of utilizing funds from Gaddafi to finance his 2007 electoral campaign.
Prosecutors claimed that in return, Sarkozy pledged to assist Gaddafi in mitigating his pariah status with Western nations.
Judge Nathalie Gavarino indicated that Sarkozy permitted his close associates to engage with Libyan officials to secure financial backing for his campaign.
However, the court determined there was insufficient evidence to conclude that Sarkozy benefitted from the illegal campaign financing.
Additionally, he was ordered to pay a fine of €100,000 ($117,000, £87,000).
A gasp of disbelief was heard in the courtroom as the judge announced her sentence.
Sarkozy may be incarcerated in Paris within the coming days, marking a first for a former French president and a humiliating setback for a man who has consistently maintained his innocence in this case and others against him.
“What transpired today… is of grave concern regarding the rule of law, and for the trust one can have in the justice system,” Sarkozy expressed outside the courthouse.
“If they really want me to reside in prison, then I shall, but with my head held high,” he stated.
The investigation commenced in 2013, two years after Saif al-Islam, the son of the then-Libyan leader, first claimed that Sarkozy accepted millions from his father for campaign financing.
The subsequent year, Ziad Takieddine, a Lebanese businessman who acted as an intermediary between France and the Middle East, alleged that he possessed written proof indicating Sarkozy’s campaign was “abundantly” financed by Tripoli, with payments amounting to €50m (£43m) continuing even after he assumed the presidency.
Others implicated in the trial included former interior ministers Claude Gueant and Brice Hortefeux. Gueant was found guilty of corruption, while Hortefeux was convicted of criminal conspiracy.
Sarkozy’s spouse, Italian-born former supermodel and singer Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, was charged last year with concealing evidence linked to the Gaddafi case and collaborating with wrongdoers to engage in fraud, both of which she rejects.
Since his defeat in the 2012 reelection bid, Sarkozy has been subjected to multiple criminal probes.
He has also challenged a February 2024 ruling that found him guilty of overspending during his 2012 reelection campaign and subsequently hiring a PR firm to conceal it. He was given a one-year sentence, with six months suspended.
In 2021, he was convicted of attempting to bribe a judge in 2014, becoming the first former French president to receive a custodial sentence. In December, the Paris appeals court ruled that he could serve his sentence at home under electronic monitoring instead of confinement.
