Ex-French President Sarkozy Jailed Five Years Over Gaddafi-Linked Campaign Funds

A Paris court has handed former French president Nicolas Sarkozy a five-year prison sentence after convicting him of criminal conspiracy.

The case centred on allegations that late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi secretly provided millions of euros to bankroll Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign in return for diplomatic favours.

The court found Sarkozy guilty of involvement in the conspiracy between 2005 and 2007 but cleared him of three other charges, including passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, and concealing embezzled public money.

The ruling, described as historic, makes the 70-year-old the first modern French president to be sentenced to prison.

Along with the jail term, Sarkozy was fined €100,000, and the judges also ordered that he remain in custody, despite his plans to appeal.

Sarkozy strongly rejected the verdict and urged French citizens, regardless of their political leanings, to reflect on the ruling, saying, “Hatred truly knows no bounds.”

“If they absolutely want me to sleep in prison, I will sleep in prison. But with my head held high. I am innocent. This injustice is a scandal,” he said.

“I ask the French people — whether they voted for me or not, whether they support me or not — to grasp what has just happened. Hatred truly knows no bounds.”

In 2021, Sarkozy received a one-year prison sentence for corruption, becoming the first French president since World War II to be jailed.

That sentence was served under house arrest with an electronic tag before he was granted conditional release.

KanyiDaily had also reported that Elias Antonio Saca, the former president of El Salvador, who is currently serving a 10-year prison term for corruption, was sentenced to an additional two years for bribery.