France sentences former president Sarkozy for 2007 campaign – JURIST
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for criminal conspiracy.
Acquitted of the corruption allegations, the Correctional Tribunal of Paris found Sarkozy guilty of a criminal association with an organized scheme to illegally finance his 2007 presidential election campaign. The decision has sparked various reactions in France concerning the severity of the penalty and the former President’s actual involvement in the scheme.
Sarkozy, president between 2007 and 2012, commented on the decision, considering it a matter of “extreme gravity for the rule of law in the country.” The former President then went on to state that he was found guilty of an “idea” put forward by two of his collaborators, and that no personal enrichment could be found on his behalf. Sarkozy will appeal the decision.
In 2012, French news website Mediapart published a leaked document by the Libyan government, signed by the then head of intelligence, Moussa Koussa, addressed to Muammar Gaddafi’s chief of staff, Bashir Saleh. The document states that the Libyan government secretly supported Sarkozy’s 2007 financial campaign with fifty million euros. At the time, Sarkozy sued Mediapart for forgery and use of forgery, which triggered an expert evaluation of the document that concluded it was very probable that the document was legitimate.
Back in 2007, France hosted an important state visit for Gaddafi, which favored Libya’s return to the international scene, despite its involvement in terrorist activities and infringement upon human rights in the country. Sarkozy’s trial also revisited the “Bulgarian nurses” case back in 2007, when five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were released by Libyan authorities after allegedly infecting hundreds of children with HIV in a hospital in Libya and sentenced to death on those charges. On July 24, 2007, First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and several EU officials brokered a deal with the Libyan authorities to release the medics.
Sarkozy’s sentencing is similar to that of opposition figure Marine Le Pen, in that it provides a “provisory execution,” a provision in French law that allows the decision to be executed even as it is being challenged before a superior court. This is an exception to the rule based on the principle of presumption of innocence.
