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Sarkozy Gets Five Years, Ordered to Prison in Libyan Funding Case

The decision would make him the first former French leader to serve time under the Fifth Republic.

Overview

  • The Paris criminal court convicted Nicolas Sarkozy of association to commit a crime over efforts to solicit Libyan money for his 2007 campaign and issued a mandat de dépôt, with imprisonment to be executed after a formal summons.
  • Prosecutors are set to summon him on October 13 to notify the incarceration order, which remains executable despite his announced appeal.
  • Judges acquitted him of passive corruption and receiving public funds, noting they found no demonstration that Libyan money ultimately reached the campaign.
  • Close associates were also found guilty, with Claude Guéant convicted on influence‑peddling and corruption counts and Brice Hortefeux convicted of criminal association.
  • Sarkozy declared his innocence and vowed to appeal, while reactions split the political class and an ally publicly urged President Emmanuel Macron to grant clemency on the immediate incarceration order.