AP
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On Thursday, a Paris court sentenced former French President Nicholas Sarkozy to five years in prison after being found guilty of criminal conspiracy to fund the 2007 campaign with funds from Libya.
The historic ruling made Sarkozy the first former president of modern France, and was sentenced to actual time behind the bar. To his surprise, the court ruled that the 70-year-old would be jailed despite his intention to appeal. It said the date of his imprisonment would be decided later, sparing the humiliation of being led by a cramped courtroom handcuffed by a conservative leader.
The court allowed Sarkozy to commit crimes from Crime Association in a conspiracy between 2005 and 2007 and fund his victory campaign with funds from Libya in exchange for diplomatic benefits. He exempts him from three other charges, including passive corruption, funding for illegal campaigns and cover-up of embezzlement of public funds.
Sarkozy condemned the ruling.
“If they absolutely want me to sleep in prison, I will sleep in prison. But I hold my head high. I am innocent. This injustice is a scandal,” he said with his wife, singer and model Cara Bruni Sarkozy.
“I ask the French people to figure out what just happened, whether they voted for me or not, whether they support me or not. Hate really doesn’t know the scope,” he said.
The court described his actions as “exceptionally serious” and said his involvement in efforts to raise campaign funding from Libya “can undermine the public’s trust in public institutions.”
“The goal of the criminal conspiracy was to give you advantages in your campaign,” the court ruled.
Sarkozy was Minister of Home Affairs before taking office in 2007. The court said he used his position “to prepare corruption at the highest level.”
Sarkozy described his fundraising plan simply as “ideas.”
“I’ve been convicted of allowing two staff members to proceed with the illegal fundraising idea for the campaign,” he said.
The court found that Sarkozy’s two closest fellow members, former ministers Claude Geant and Bryce Holtefex, had committed crimes from the Crime Association, but similarly acquitted other charges.
The Chief Judge read the lengthy verdict for hours and said Sarkozy allowed his associates to “have or attempt to obtain financial support in Libya.”
However, the court also said it could not be determined with certainty that Libyan money funded the Sarkozy campaign. The court explained that under French law, corrupt schemes are still criminal, even if they cannot prove even if they have not been paid.
Sarkozy, who was elected in 2007 but lost a bid for reelection in 2012, denied all misconduct in a three-month trial this year involving 11 co-defendants, including three former ministers.
Despite multiple legal scandals clouding his presidential legacy, Sarkozy is an influential figure in the French right-wing politics and the existence of entertainment circles, and through his marriage to Bruni Sarkozy.
The accusations trace the roots of Libyan press and former Libyan dictator Moremar Gadafi to 2011, when Libyan state secretly poured millions of euros into Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign.
In 2012, the French research outlet Mediapart announced that it was a Libyan intelligence news memo referring to the 50 million euro funding agreement. Sarkozy accused the document of forgery and sued for defamation. The court ruled on Thursday that “the document appears to be most likely forgery.”
Investigators also looked into a series of trips to Libya, made by people close to Sarkozy, when he served as Minister of Home Affairs in 2005 and 2007, including the Chief of Staff in 2005 and 2007.
In 2016, Franco Lebanese businessman Ziad Takiedane told Mediapart that he had delivered a cash-filled suitcase from Tripoli to the French Ministry of Home Affairs under Sarkozy. He later retracted his statement.
That reversal is the focus of another investigation into eyewitness tampering. Both Sarkozy and his wife were charged with preliminary charges for their involvement in alleged efforts to put pressure on Takiedain. The case has not yet been brought to court.
Tachyedine, one of the co-defendants, passed away in Beirut on Tuesday. He was 75 years old. He fled to Lebanon in 2020 and did not attend trial.
Prosecutors argued that Sarkozy deliberately benefited from what he called a “corruption agreement” with the Gadaffi government.
The longtime dictator fell and killed in the 2011 uprising, ending the four-year rules of the North African country.
The trial shed light on back-channel discussions with Libya in the 2000s, when Gadafi was trying to restore diplomatic relations with the West. Prior to that, Libya was considered a Paria province.
Sarkozy has rejected the allegations that it relied on politically motivated and forged evidence. During the trial, he accused the “conspiracy” that he said was staged by “liars and con artists”, including the “Gadafi clan.”
He suggested that the allegations for illegal campaign funding were retaliation for his call as president of France.
Sarkozy was one of the first Western leaders to promote military intervention in Libya in 2011, when the Arab Spring democratic protests wiped out the Arab world.
“What credibility can we give such a statement, characterized by the sign of vengeance?” Sarkozy asked in the comments during the trial.
In June, Sarkozy was stripped of his massive Medal of Honor, France’s highest award, after being convicted in another case.
Previously, he had been pleaded guilty to corruption and had an impact on peddlers by attempting to bribe the magistrate in 2014 in exchange for information about the legal case he was involved in.
Sarkozy was declared to wear an electronic surveillance bracelet for a year. He was allowed to remove the electronic tag just three months later, as he was allowed to release a conditional release due to his age.
In another case, Sarkozy was convicted last year of 2012’s failed reelection in 2012 for funding illegal campaigns. He was accused of spending almost twice the maximum legal amount and sentenced to a year in prison, of which six months were suspended.
Sarkozy denied the allegation. He has appealed the verdict to the highest Cassion Court, and the appeal is pending.
