Sarkozy facing 5 years in jail in Qaddafi conspiracy trial

Gaspard Sebag, Bloomberg News on Sep 25, 2025

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Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was handed a five-year jail term for criminal conspiracy at a trial over allegations aides and political allies covertly sought funding from the late Moammar Qaddafi’s regime before his election in 2007.

While the Paris Criminal Court also cleared him of charges of embezzlement of Libyan funds, corruption and illegal campaign financing, judges decided that Sarkozy’s pledge to appeal wouldn’t lift the execution of the sentence. Agence France-Presse said that he’s due to be summoned within a month to learn the start of his jail term.

Judge Nathalie Gavarino said Sarkozy had let people in his entourage reach out to Libyan authorities “in order to obtain or attempt to obtain financial support in Libya” for his 2007 presidential campaign, according to AFP. Some of his aides at the time were also convicted on Thursday.

Sarkozy lashed out at critics who wanted him behind bars and called his sentence a “humiliation” for France.

“I will fight until my last breath to prove my total innocence,” he told reporters outside the courtroom. “If they absolutely want me to sleep in prison, then I’ll sleep in prison, but with my head held high. I’m innocent. This injustice is a scandal.”

Sarkozy has consistently denied wrongdoing. Prosecutors had initially requested a seven-year prison term for France’s 2007-2012 leader after accusing him and his aides of favoring the interests of Qaddafi’s regime in exchange for money, before and after he became head of state.

After scaling the heights of French politics to win the presidency in 2007, Sarkozy has battled a variety of accusations since his failed 2012 reelection bid. This latest trial is the third separate criminal case that has brought him to court and comes after the 70-year-old lost a final appeal in December to overturn a historic corruption conviction.

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—With assistance from James Regan.