French Ex-President Sarkozy Given 5-Years In Prison For Libya Campaign Financing Scandal

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to five years in prison and a €100,000 fine after being found guilty of criminal conspiracy in a high-profile case involving alleged illicit funding from the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was slain by NATO-backed rebels after US-UK-French military intervention in 2011.

The 70-year-old, who served as president from 2007 to 2012 and was a hugely influential figure in right-wing politics has maintained his innocence. “What happened today is extremely serious for the rule of law and for public trust in the justice system,” he said in a statement. “If they absolutely want me to sleep in jail, I will sleep in jail – but with my head held high.”

He was accused during his time as president of accepting millions of euros from Gaddafi to finance his 2007 election campaign. The quid pro quo allegedly involved a commitment help rehabilitate Gaddafi’s image with the West.

Gaddafi had over many decades been in and out of the West’s favor, and in the mid-2000s had been ‘brought in from the cold’ by the Bush administration, in exchange for giving up his aspiring nuclear and WMD program. Yet he still later saw a Washington-led regime change war against him once the so-called Arab Spring kicked off.

Sarkozy was acquitted of other charges, including passive corruption and illegal campaign financing, with Judge Nathalie Gavarino stating that Sarkozy had allowed close aides to reach out to Libyan officials to secure financial support for his campaign. But there wasn’t enough evidence to show Sarkozy actually directly benefited from any such illicit campaign funds.

The former French leader insists he will appeal the whole thing and that his innocence will be established, in what he says is a politically motivated case.

The allegations and case are at the very least mired in intrigue, political scandal, score settling, and curiously came to light only after Gaddafi was overthrown and killed. The accusations emerged after Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam publicly accused Sarkozy of accepting campaign funds from Libya.

In 2014, Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, long a well-known go-between for France and the Middle East, purported to possess written proof that Sarkozy received €50 million from Tripoli, with the payments allegedly persisting even after Sarkozy took office.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy vows appeal after being sentenced to five years for accepting illegal campaign financing from Muammar Gaddafi’s regime for his 2007 campaign. #Libya #ليبيا pic.twitter.com/Z3CDhLw4dY

— Alwasat Libya (@alwasatengnews) September 25, 2025

This is another historic ‘first’ for France’s presidents and the legal system, after in 2024 he had already received a one-year sentence (but six months were suspended) for exceeding the legal spending limit during his 2012 re-election campaign

Also in 2021 he was found guilty of attempting to bribe a judge in exchange for confidential information regarding an ongoing investigation, after which he was issued a custodial sentence.