Overview

• Paris criminal court found Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of association de malfaiteurs in the 2007 Libyan funding case and acquitted him of corruption, illegal campaign financing and receipt of misappropriated Libyan public funds.
• The judgment includes a mandat de dépôt différé with exécution provisoire, so he will be jailed in the coming weeks despite his appeal, after a Parquet national financier summons on October 13 to fix the entry date.
• Presiding judge Nathalie Gavarino cited the preparation of corruption "at the highest possible level" and facts of "exceptional gravity" likely to erode public trust.
• Co-defendants Claude Guéant and Brice Hortefeux were convicted, with Guéant also found guilty of passive corruption and forgery and sentenced to six years, while campaign treasurer Éric Woerth was acquitted.
• Right and far-right figures condemned the use of exécution provisoire, with Marine Le Pen warning of a "great danger" and Henri Guaino decrying a "judicial coup d'État," as foreign media described a first-ever incarceration of a former French president.