Speaking after the hearing, Sarkozy denied wrongdoing and confirmed plans to appeal. “If they absolutely want me to sleep in jail, I will sleep in jail, but with my head held high,” he told reporters outside the courtroom, flanked by his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and legal team.
Sarkozy was found guilty only on the charge of criminal conspiracy. He was acquitted of other charges including passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, and misappropriation of public funds.
Judge Nathalie Gavarino ruled that Sarkozy allowed his inner circle to solicit funds from Gaddafi’s regime in the run-up to the 2007 election. While the court found insufficient evidence to prove Sarkozy received the funds directly, it concluded that the contacts and arrangements made under his watch amounted to criminal conspiracy.
Prosecutors had argued that Sarkozy’s team entered into an agreement with Libyan officials between 2005 and 2007. In return for millions in financial support, Sarkozy was expected to provide diplomatic and political favours to Gaddafi’s internationally isolated government.
The trial examined testimony and documentation linked to secret meetings, financial transfers, and travel records. A French-Lebanese intermediary, Ziad Takieddine, told investigators in 2016 that he delivered €5 million in cash from Tripoli to Sarkozy and his aides. He later retracted the statement in 2020, before fleeing to Lebanon. He died earlier this week, days before the verdict.
The case was also supported by allegations made in 2011 by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the Libyan leader’s son, who said on Euronews that Sarkozy had accepted Libyan money and must “return it to the Libyan people.” A 2006 note allegedly from Libyan intelligence, published by French outlet Mediapart in 2012, also mentioned a €50 million agreement. Sarkozy has always maintained the document was fabricated.
During the trial, prosecutors claimed that Sarkozy’s presidential campaign was financed in part through cash smuggled in suitcases via a network of arms dealers, intermediaries and Libyan officials.
