French ex-president Sarkozy sentenced to 5 years over Gaddafi campaign funds

A Paris court on Thursday sentenced former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to five years in prison for accepting illegal campaign funds from the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, France 24 reported.

Prosecutors alleged that Sarkozy—who has consistently denied the charges—made a deal with Gaddafi in 2005, when he was France’s interior minister, to obtain campaign financing in exchange for supporting the then-isolated Libyan government on the international stage.

The sentence means he will be imprisoned regardless of whether he files an appeal. The judge also ordered him to pay a €100,000 fine.

The court found Sarkozy guilty of criminal association in a scheme from 2005 to 2007 to finance his campaign with funds from Libya in return for diplomatic favors. However, he was acquitted of three other charges, including passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, and concealment of the embezzlement of public funds.

The ruling marks the latest in a series of legal setbacks for Sarkozy, who served as president of France from 2007 to 2012. Sarkozy has already been convicted in two separate cases and stripped of France’s highest honor, according to France 24.

Muammar Gaddafi ruled Libya from 1969 until 2011, when he was captured and killed during the Libyan Civil War.