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The trial that has landed former French President Nicolas Sarkozy in prison is linked to events that began nearly 15 years ago. On March 16, 2011, Saïf al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, accused the then French president in an interview with Euronews of having received money from Libya to finance his 2007 presidential campaign.
This accusation gained much more weight on April 28, 2012, when the investigative portal Mediapart published a document in which the former head of Libya's foreign intelligence services mentioned an "agreement in principle" for financial support to Sarkozy in the amount of 50 million euros. Although in September 2023 the French court considered it "possible" that the document was forged, the justice did not stop the criminal prosecution, writes La Repubblica.
Investigation and charges
On April 19, 2013, the Paris prosecutor's office opened a criminal investigation against unknown persons, which led to in-depth checks and investigations involving close associates of Sarkozy, such as:
Claude Guéant – former cabinet director;
Alexandre Djouhri – Franco-Algerian businessman;
Éric Woerth – former campaign treasurer;
Brice Hortefeux – former minister.
In 2018, Sarkozy was formally charged with passive corruption, illegal electoral financing, and receiving foreign public funds. In 2020, he was also charged with collaborating in a criminal group.
Trial and punishment
From January 6 to April 8, 2025, Sarkozy and 11 other defendants appeared before the court in Paris. On March 27, 2025, the National Financial Prosecutor's Office requested 7 years in prison for him, a fine of 300,000 euros, and a 5-year ban from public office, accusing the former president of a "corrupt Faustian pact with one of the most dubious dictators of the last 30 years."
Sarkozy has always denied the charges, claiming they are part of a conspiracy organized by the Gaddafi clan to avenge his role in the overthrow of the Libyan regime in 2011.
Final decision and consequences
On September 25, 2025, the Paris court acquitted Sarkozy of several charges, including passive corruption and receiving Libyan funds, for lack of direct evidence.
However, the judges considered the existence of a "prior criminal agreement" proven and sentenced him to 5 years in prison and a 100 thousand euro fine for collaboration in a structured criminal group, with immediate execution of the sentence, but with an order to postpone the detention.
This decision means that, even though Sarkozy appealed the decision, he could not avoid serving his sentence because the court had ordered the immediate execution of the sentence, which in French criminal law makes the decision immediately enforceable, regardless of the appeal.
Why was he immediately imprisoned?
According to Article 471 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure, a judge has the right to order the provisional execution of a sentence at first instance if there are exceptional circumstances, such as in this case the “particular importance of the facts” and the “weight of the sentence imposed”.
This measure has angered Nicolas Sarkozy, who has described the decision as a "humiliating measure" and "unjustifiable."/ La Repubblica
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