On September 25, the Paris Court sentenced former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to five years in prison for his alleged involvement in illegal funding from Libya for the election campaign. Surprisingly, the court decided that he would be detained even upon appeal, and the execution date would be announced later.
According to the verdict, Mr. Sarkozy, 70 years old, was convicted of committing a crime between 2005 and 2007 to seek financial resources from Libya to serve the presidential campaign.
The court said he had allowed the associates to approach Libya officials to receive or seek funding in exchange for diplomatic incentives. However, the judges also noted that there was no solid evidence that the money was used in the 2007 election campaign.
Mr. Sarkozy was found guilty of three other charges, including passive corruption, illegal campaign finance and concealment of funded handwriting license plates. However, under French law, corruption plots are still considered a crime even if the money has not been transferred.
Mr. Sarkozy's two close associates, former Ministers Claude Gueant and Brice Hortefeux, were also found to have committed crimes, but were cleared of some allegations. Along with Mr. Sarkozy, there are 11 other defendants, including three former ministers, who must appear in court.
Throughout the three-month trial, Mr. Sarkozy repeatedly denied all allegations. He was elected president of France in 2007, but failed to re-elect in 2012.
Despite many legal scandals, he still maintained a certain influence in right-wing politics as well as attracted public attention with his marriage to Ms. 8:00 Bruni-Sarkozy.
Not only associated with financial controversy, Mr. Sarkozy is also remembered as one of the first Western leaders to support military intervention in Libya in 2011, in the context of the widespread Spring Arabian uprising in the region.
