France: Sarkozy found guilty of criminal conspiracy

Rome, 25 September (LaPresse/AP) – A Paris court has found former French President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of criminal conspiracy between 2005 and 2007, while acquitting him of charges of misappropriation of public funds and passive corruption in a trial over alleged illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign with money from the government of then-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The news was reported by BfmTv. The court is currently drafting the sentence and has not yet sentenced the 70-year-old Sarkozy. This step will take place later today. The former president can appeal against a guilty verdict, which would suspend any sentence pending the appeal. Prosecutors have requested a seven-year prison sentence for Sarkozy. The former Élysée Palace resident denied any wrongdoing during the three-month trial, which also involved 11 other defendants, including three former ministers. The allegations date back to 2011, when a Libyan news agency and Gaddafi himself claimed that the Libyan state had secretly paid millions of euros into Sarkozy’s election campaign.