France’s highest court upheld former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conviction for illegal campaign financing on Wednesday, marking another legal setback for the 70-year-old former leader.
The Court of Cassation upheld the guilty verdict making his conviction definitive by French law, with no further appeal possible.
However, six months of his sentence were suspended and could be served through alternative measures, such as wearing an electronic bracelet, without going to jail.
Sarkozy had appealed his 2024 conviction over his 2012 re-election campaign. He's accused of having spent almost twice the maximum legal amount of 22.5 million euros ($25.5 million) on the re-election bid that he lost to François Hollande.
The ruling follows his release from prison two weeks ago, after he was freed pending an appeal in another campaign financing case. Sarkozy had spent 20 days in Paris’ La Santé prison. He was convicted of conspiring to obtain secret funding from Libya for his successful 2007 presidential campaign, a charge he denies.
Sarkozy’s appeal trial in the Libya case is scheduled to run from March 16 to June 3.
In September, a Paris court found him guilty of criminal association in a plot from 2005 to 2007, when he served as interior minister, to finance his winning presidential campaign with funds from Libya in exchange for diplomatic favours. It sentenced him to five years in prison.
Sarkozy was cleared of three other charges, including passive corruption, illegal campaign financing and concealing the embezzlement of public funds.
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