Former French president Sarkozy convicted over Gaddafi funding

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty on Thursday by a French court of criminal conspiracy but acquitted of passive bribery charges in the case of suspected financing by former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi of his successful 2007 presidential campaign.

The presiding judge of the Paris Criminal Court explained that Sarkozy, 70, was guilty of criminal conspiracy for having "allowed his close associates and political supporters over whom he had authority" to solicit Libyan authorities "in order to obtain or attempt to obtain financial support in Libya with a view to obtaining financing" for his 2007 campaign.

The court, however, acquitted him of charges of receiving stolen goods and embezzlement of Libyan public funds, passive bribery and illegal campaign financing.

His two former colleagues, Claude Gueant and Brice Hortefeux, were found guilty of passive corruption and forgery for the former, and criminal conspiracy for the latter. Eric Woerth, the campaign treasurer, was acquitted.

Following the death in Lebanon on Tuesday of one of the defendants and a key figure in the case, Ziad Takieddine, the court also declared the prosecution against him to be terminated.

The sentences will be announced later today, with the reading of the 400-page judgment expected to last several hours.

Representatives of the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) had called for a seven-year prison sentence for the former head of state at the end of March, following a three-month trial, accusing him of having entered into a "Faustian corruption pact with one of the most disreputable dictators of the last 30 years."

They also requested a €300,000 fine and five years of ineligibility for him. This sentence was the heaviest sought against the 12 defendants in the case.

According to the prosecution, the former president allegedly favoured, in exchange for bribes, Libya's return to the international stage and allegedly pledged to absolve Gaddafi's brother-in-law, Abdallah Senussi, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the UTA DC-10 attack that killed 170 people in 1989.

For prosecutors, Sarkozy, who appeared on charges of passive corruption, receiving stolen public funds, illegal campaign financing and criminal conspiracy, was both a "sponsor" and a beneficiary of this financing.

Sarkozy, who has consistently proclaimed his innocence, immediately denounced the "excessiveness of the requested sentence", describing the accusations as the result of a plot hatched by the Gaddafi clan to take revenge for his decisive role in the fall of the Libyan leader in 2011.

Sarkozy is now expected to lodge an appeal, which would likely postpone the threat of imprisonment by several months.

However, a final sentence of more than two years in prison could not be modified, for example by the insertion of an electronic bracelet. A convicted person over the age of 70 can, however, apply for parole.

This is a developing story.