Ex-French President Convicted, Handed Prison Sentence

A court in Paris has given former French President Nicolas Sarkozy a five-year prison sentence.
According to reports, the court found him guilty of criminal conspiracy on Thursday during his investigation into allegations that the late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi contributed to the funding of his successful presidential campaign in 2007.

The court mandated that Sarkozy be taken into custody at a later time, and it gave prosecutors a month to let the former president know when he should be sent to prison. Sarkozy may appeal the decision, but this measure will stand.

CNN reports that in addition, the court convicted former ministers Claude Guéant and Brice Hortefeux, two of Sarkozy’s closest colleagues during his presidency, guilty of criminal association but cleared them of others.

Judges were not persuaded that the conservative leader was directly involved in the funding effort or that any Libyan funds were actually used in Sarkozy’s successful campaign, according to the Paris court ruling, which implied that the court thought the men had banded together to seek Libyan funding for his 2007 campaign.

After reading the lengthy ruling four hours, the top judge stated that Sarkozy had let his close allies to contact Libyan authorities “to obtain or try to obtain financial support in Libya for the purpose of securing campaign financing.” As she read the verdict, he stood up.

However, the court added that it was unable to say for sure whether Libyan funds ultimately funded Sarkozy’s campaign. According to the court, a corrupt scheme can still be illegal in France even if no money was exchanged or could not be confirmed.