Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy arrives for the decision in his trial for unlawful marketing campaign financing from Libya for his profitable 2007 presidential bid, on the Tribunal de Paris courthouse in Paris, on September 25, 2025.
Julien De Rosa | Afp | Getty Images
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to 5 years in jail on Thursday for felony conspiracy over makes an attempt to boost marketing campaign funds from Libya and can quickly grow to be the primary former president of France to serve time in jail.
The sentence was harsher than many anticipated and marked a spectacular downfall for Sarkozy, who was president from 2007 to 2012. He will spend time in jail even when he appeals the ruling, which he stated he would do.
As he exited the courtroom, Sarkozy, visibly moved, expressed his anger at what he stated was a “scandalous” ruling.
“If they absolutely want me to sleep in jail, I will sleep in jail, but with my head held high,” he instructed reporters, including that he was harmless. “I will not apologise for something I didn’t do.”
“What happened today … is of extreme gravity in regard to the rule of law, and for the trust one can have in the justice system,” he stated of the ruling, as his mannequin and singer-songwriter spouse Carla Bruni stood by him.
Sarkozy was discovered responsible of felony conspiracy over efforts by shut aides to obtain funds for his 2007 presidential bid from Libya through the rule of late dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
He was acquitted by the Paris courtroom of all different costs, together with corruption and receiving unlawful marketing campaign financing.
Sarkozy will go to jail
However, the jail sentence is enforceable instantly, with the choose saying Sarkozy would have only a quick interval to place his affairs so as earlier than prosecutors name on him to move to jail. That ought to occur inside a month.
“We were shocked because when we started hearing the decision being read out, we thought his innocence would be recognised,” considered one of his attorneys, Jean-Michel Darrois, instructed reporters. “We hope the appeals court will see things more clearly and will recognise his innocence.”
Sarkozy, who has all the time denied the fees, was accused of creating a take care of Gaddafi in 2005, when he was France’s inside minister, to acquire marketing campaign financing in change for supporting the then-isolated Libyan authorities on the worldwide stage.
The choose stated there was no proof that Sarkozy made such a take care of Gaddafi, nor that cash that was despatched from Libya reached Sarkozy’s marketing campaign coffers, even when the timing was “compatible” and the paths the cash went by had been “very opaque”.
But she stated Sarkozy was responsible of felony conspiracy between 2005 and 2007 for having let shut aides get in contact with individuals in Libya to try to acquire marketing campaign financing. From May 2007, he was president and lined by presidential immunity, the courtroom added.
This was the second time this 12 months {that a} French courtroom handed down a ruling with speedy impact on a serious political determine.
Far-right chief Marine Le Pen was convicted in March of embezzling EU funds and given a direct five-year ban on operating for workplace.
Le Pen was immediate to react to Sarkozy’s sentencing, saying it was “a grave danger” that judges had been choosing instantly enforceable rulings and never ready for appeals.
Reactions amongst French politicians had been blended, with a number of on the fitting dashing to offer help and criticise what they stated was a biased ruling, whereas on the left, some welcomed the ruling as proof of the independence of the judiciary.
Vincent Brengarth, lawyer for financial justice marketing campaign group Sherpa, which was occasion to the Libya trial, additionally welcomed the ruling. “This confirms we have an independent justice system that can be brave,” he stated.
Sarkozy’s authorized woes
Despite his authorized battles and having his Legion of Honour, France’s highest distinction, stripped in June, Sarkozy stays an influential determine on the French political stage.
He just lately met along with his former protege, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, and has additionally lent credibility to Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), saying the far-right, anti-immigrant occasion now types a part of the “republican arc.”
Sarkozy has confronted a number of authorized battles since leaving workplace.
Last 12 months, France’s highest courtroom upheld his conviction for corruption and affect peddling, ordering him to put on an digital tag for a 12 months, a primary for a former French head of state. The tag has now been eliminated.
Also final 12 months, an appeals courtroom confirmed a separate conviction for unlawful marketing campaign financing over his failed re-election bid in 2012. A remaining ruling from France’s highest courtroom is predicted on that case subsequent month.