French court to set date for Sarkozy’s imprisonment over Libya campaign funding case

A French court will set the date for former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s imprisonment on Monday after he was sentenced to five years in prison for criminal conspiracy linked to illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign with funds from Libya.

Sarkozy, 70, has denied any wrongdoing, calling the ruling “a scandal,” and has lodged an appeal. Despite this, the court ruled that his sentence would take immediate effect — an uncommon move under French law — citing “the seriousness of the disruption to public order caused by the offence.”

The former president has been given 18 days from the verdict to arrange his affairs before being summoned by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office to set a date for incarceration.

Sarkozy, who led France from 2007 to 2012, remains an influential figure in conservative politics despite retiring from public life. He is the first modern French president ordered to serve actual prison time.

According to the court, Sarkozy and senior aides, including Claude Guéant and Brice Hortefeux, held secret meetings with Libyan officials between 2005 and 2007 to secure campaign funds. Judges said Sarkozy used his political position “to prepare corruption at the highest level,” noting contacts with Abdullah al-Senoussi, brother-in-law of the late Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi and a convicted terrorist.

The court found no proof that Libyan money directly funded Sarkozy’s campaign or was used for personal enrichment but said the conspiracy itself undermined public integrity.

Sarkozy maintains the charges are politically motivated and claims they stem from a plot by figures connected to Gaddafi’s regime, arguing the case was retaliation for his 2011 role in the NATO-backed intervention that led to Gaddafi’s overthrow and death.

Once imprisoned, Sarkozy is expected to be held under special conditions at Paris’s La Santé prison, which has a designated “VIP area” for high-profile inmates. He will likely spend initial days in an assessment unit before being moved to a secure section for “vulnerable personalities,” according to French media.

Sarkozy’s defence team plans to request his release pending appeal, a process that could take up to two months. The appeal trial is expected to begin next spring.

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