Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy begins a 5-year prison sentence
France’s former presidentNicolasSarkozy arrives in Paris to start his five years jail sentence for alleged illegal financing of his 2007 presidential election campaign from the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Sarkozy was handed a five-year jail term in September for criminal conspiracy over a plan for late Libyan dictator Qaddafi to fund his electoral campaign. Qaddafi was killed in 2011 — the first leader killed amid the “Arab Spring” uprisings that rocked the Middle East as a number of countries with long-time dictatorial regimes faced popular revolts.
Sarkozy, who is appealing his conviction, is the first president of France to go to prison in the 233 years since the founding of the First French Republic in 1792.
Sarkozy has consistently denied any wrongdoing in the case, which alleges his 2007 campaign for president was funded by millions of euros from Libya. He was convicted of criminal association with aides Brice Hortefeux and Claude Gueant, allowing them to covertly solicit funding from the Gaddafi regime in exchange for preferential economic and diplomatic treatment.
