That of the former president of France, for the illegality of his election campaign for his re-election in the 2012 elections was upheld by the Supreme Court of France, dealing another legal blow against him, after his recent imprisonment for almost a month, again for illegal financing of his election campaign by Muammar Gaddafi in 2007.
The decision of the Supreme Court of Cassation (Cour de Cassation) of France, came after a relevant appeal and confirmed the convictions, stating that the illegal financing was a fact that was proven in court. He also upheld a one-year suspended prison sentence, half unsupervised.
Sarkozy is considering appealing to the ECtHR
In a statement, Sarkozy’s lawyers said their client was considering appealing to the European Court of Human Rights.
The decision comes after Sarkozy, 70, was jailed on October 21 and released shortly after, pending an appeal against that conviction.
Sarkozy has denied accusations that his party, the Republicans (then known as the UMP), in 2012 spent almost double the legal limit of 22.5 million euros on lavish campaign rallies and then hired a friendly PR firm to hide the costs.
He has stated that he was not himself responsible for the logistical organization of his campaign or how the money was spent in the pre-election period.
The 2021 ruling stated that Sarkozy had been informed of the cost overrun, that he did not act to prevent it, and that it was not necessary for him to approve each of the costs himself to be held liable.
