Former France President Nicolas Sarkozy was considered guilty of criminal conspiracy and sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday for efforts by close advisers to obtain funds from Libya for his 2007 presidential candidacy during the government of the late dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Sarkozy’s sentence means that he will go to prison regardless of whether or not they appeal, a much harder sentence than many expected.
However, Sarkozy was acquitted by a Paris court of all other charges, including corruption and receipt of illegal campaign financing.
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Sarkozy, who always denied the accusations, was accused of making a deal with Gaddafi in 2005, when he was interior minister of France, to obtain campaign financing in exchange for support for the then isolated Libyan government on the international scenario.
The judge said there was no evidence that Sarkozy had made such a deal with Gaddafi, nor that Libya’s sent money had reached the Sarkozy campaign coffers, even if the moment was “compatible” and the ways traveled by the money were “very opaque.”
But she said Sarkozy is guilty of criminal conspiracy for allowing nearby advisers to contact people in Libya to try to get funding for the campaign.
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Sarkozy, 70, has been tried since January, in a case he said he was politically motivated.
The court considered him guilty of criminal conspiracy between 2005 and 2007. After that, he was president and was covered by presidential immunity, the court added.
Among the other accused at the trial were Sarkozy’s former right-handed way, Claude Guéant, and former interior minister Brice Hortefeux. The court considered Guéant, also former interior minister, guilty of corruption, among other accusations. Hortefeux was considered guilty of criminal conspiracy.
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Despite his legal battles and his legion of honor, the highest distinction in France has been removed in June, Sarkozy remains an influential figure in the French political scene.
He recently met with his former protected, Prime Minister Sébastien Leconnu, and also gave credibility to the national meeting, led by Marine Le Pen, saying that the far-right and anti-immigration party is now part of the “Republican Arch.”
Sarkozy has faced several legal battles since leaving office.
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Last year, France’s highest court maintained his conviction for corruption and influence trafficking, ordering him to use an electronic label for a year, the first for a former French chief. The label has already been removed.
Also last year, a court of appeals confirmed a separated conviction for illegal campaign financing because of his failed candidacy for reelection in 2012. A final decision of the highest cut in France is expected to be expected next month.
