Overview

• French regulations mandate automatic loss of the Legion d’Onore for any citizen convicted of a crime with a sentence of one year or more.
• Sarkozy was convicted in February 2024 of illicit campaign financing and sentenced to one year with six months suspended.
• A December 2024 corruption conviction carried a final three-year sentence that he is serving under house arrest.
• A lawsuit by children and grandchildren of past honorees prompted the administrative tribunal to apply the removal rule.
• He is set to stand trial on charges of misappropriating public funds and illegally financing his 2007 presidential campaign with alleged Libyan regime funds.