Overview

• The tribunal imposed a mandat de dépôt différé with exécution provisoire, and the financial prosecutor has summoned Nicolas Sarkozy on October 13 to fix the date and place of his incarceration.
• Judges found him guilty solely of association de malfaiteurs based on coordinated preparatory acts around alleged Libyan financing, while acquitting him of corruption, illegal campaign funding and receiving misappropriated foreign funds.
• The court justified the severity by citing facts of “exceptional gravity” that could erode public trust, according to presiding judge Nathalie Gavarino.
• Sarkozy declared his innocence and will appeal, but the appeal is not suspensive of imprisonment under the enforcement order.
• Close associates were also judged: Claude Guéant received six years and Brice Hortefeux two years, Éric Woerth was acquitted, and the ruling prompted forceful reactions including Marine Le Pen’s warning over wider use of exécution provisoire.