Sarkozy was convicted of conspiring with his associates to devise the financing scheme, while the judiciary acquitted him of personally receiving or using the funds for private purposes. However, he has consistently denied any wrongdoing. On his account on the platform “X”, Sarkozy described the trial procedures as a “judicial scandal,” considering the case to be politically motivated. Sarkozy, who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012, is the first former French president to go to prison since World War II, after Marshal Philippe Pétain, who was convicted of collaborating with the Nazi regime. On September 25, a Paris court sentenced the 70-year-old Sarkozy to five years in prison for financing his 2007 election campaign by Libya. Earlier, Louis Sarkozy, the son of the former French president, called for action. The investigation began in 2012 after a French investigative newspaper published documents indicating that Libyan authorities transferred 50 million euros ($58 million) for Sarkozy’s presidential campaign.
