A court in Paris has sentenced Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French president, to five years in prison after finding him guilty of criminal conspiracy.
The trial examined accusations that Muammar Gaddafi, the late Libyan dictator, helped fund Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign with euros running into millions.
Sarkozy was found guilty of criminal association in the plot from 2005 to 2007 in exchange for diplomatic favours.
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He was, however, cleared of three other charges including passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, and concealing the embezzlement of public funds.
The historic ruling makes Sarkozy, 70, the first former president of France in modern times to be sentenced to jail.
The court also ruled that the former president will remain detained despite his intention to appeal and ordered him to pay a fine of €100,000.
The former French president has, however, rejected the ruling.
“If they absolutely want me to sleep in prison, I will sleep in prison. But with my head held high. I am innocent. This injustice is a scandal,” he said.
“I ask the French people — whether they voted for me or not, whether they support me or not — to grasp what has just happened. Hatred truly knows no bounds.”
In 2021, Sarkozy became the first French president since World War II to be sentenced to jail when he received a one-year term for corruption.
He served it at home with an electronic tag before being granted conditional release.
