The former French president was found guilty of “criminal conspiracy” in the financing of his 2007 campaign. However, the court acquitted him of corruption and issued a deferred committal warrant with the sentence.
Paris – A judicial thunderclap and a historic decision. After a sprawling investigation that lasted more than a decade, the Paris Criminal Court delivered its verdict on Thursday, September 25, 2025, in the Libyan financing case. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to a firm five-year prison term.
Mr. Sarkozy was found guilty of the most serious charge he faced: “association de malfaiteurs,” the French legal equivalent of criminal conspiracy. The court ruled that a corrupt pact had indeed been established to secure financial support from Muammar Gaddafi’s regime for his successful 2007 run for the Élysée Palace.
In a nuanced judgment, however, the magistrates acquitted Mr. Sarkozy on the charges of “passive corruption,” “illegal campaign financing,” and “concealment of embezzled Libyan public funds.” This partial acquittal indicates that the court did not find sufficient evidence of personal enrichment or direct involvement in handling the funds, but it concluded that he was knowingly at the heart of a fraudulent system from which he benefited.
A Deferred Committal Warrant
The prison sentence was issued with a “mandat de dépôt à effet différé,” or a deferred committal warrant. In practical terms, this means the former president will not be incarcerated immediately. This measure gives his legal team time to prepare and file an appeal. As expected, Nicolas Sarkozy’s lawyers immediately announced their intention to appeal the conviction, a move that suspends the execution of the sentence.
“This is a staggering and incredibly severe decision,” said his lawyer, Jacqueline Laffont, outside the courtroom, denouncing a verdict based “on presumptions, not on evidence.”
The Epilogue of a Political-Judicial Saga
This conviction marks a turning point in what has become one of the most significant political-judicial sagas of France’s Fifth Republic. The investigation, which began in 2013, was built on shifting testimonies—notably from middleman Ziad Takieddine—as well as documents and suspicious cash flows that aimed to prove the existence of an illicit transfer of millions of euros from Tripoli to the candidate’s campaign team.
This verdict, while not yet final, represents an indelible stain on Nicolas Sarkozy’s legacy. Never before has a former French president been handed such a heavy prison sentence. The Paris court’s decision now paves the way for a new trial in the Court of Appeal, which promises to continue sending shockwaves through the French political landscape.