Overview
- Judges found Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of criminal association tied to seeking Libyan funds for his 2007 bid, while acquitting him of corruption, embezzlement and illegal campaign financing.
- The sentence includes a €100,000 fine and five years of ineligibility from holding public office.
- Prosecutors must summon him within a month to set his reporting date, and the appeal will not defer the initial incarceration.
- Close aides Claude Guéant and Brice Hortefeux were also convicted, while campaign treasurer Éric Woerth was acquitted.
- The court cited travel records, Libyan officials’ notes and intermediary testimony; key accuser Ziad Takieddine died in Beirut days before the verdict as Sarkozy became the first French ex-president ordered to serve prison time.