Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is scheduled to appear before the Paris Court of Appeal on Monday in a renewed phase of the high-profile case involving alleged Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign. The hearings are expected to continue until June 3, while a final verdict is anticipated on November 30.
Sarkozy will stand trial alongside nine other individuals linked to the case, which has drawn significant political and legal attention in France and internationally. The investigation centers on accusations that financial support from Libya was secretly used to fund Sarkozy’s successful presidential campaign in 2007.
The former president, now 71, previously spent nearly three weeks in detention after a court ruling issued less than six months ago. In earlier proceedings, the Paris Criminal Court acquitted him of three of the four charges initially brought against him, including corruption. However, the court still sentenced him to five years in prison, imposed a fine of €100,000, and barred him from holding public office for five years.
Prosecutors allege that Sarkozy knowingly allowed close associates, including former Interior Minister Claude Guéant and former minister Brice Hortefeux, to travel to Libya during the rule of Muammar Gaddafi to seek financial backing for his election campaign. According to the prosecution, Libya allegedly expected political and economic advantages in return, including improved diplomatic relations and access to lucrative commercial agreements.
The case also involves other figures connected to Libya’s former leadership. Among them is Abdullah Senussi, who had previously been convicted in France in absentia for his role in the 1989 bombing of a French airliner that killed 170 people, including 54 French citizens.
Although Sarkozy immediately appealed the original verdict, the court ordered partial provisional enforcement of the sentence due to what it described as the seriousness of the allegations. As a result, Sarkozy spent nearly three weeks in detention at La Santé prison in Paris between October 21 and November 10 before being released under judicial supervision.