France Ex-President Sarkozy must serve six-month prison sentence
France's former head of state Nicolas Sarkozy must serve a six-month prison sentence in a further judicial procedure for illegal election campaign financing. The Court of Cassation in Paris rejected the 70-year-old's appeal against his conviction. This is now legally binding. However, Sarkozy does not have to serve the sentence in prison. A prison judge must now decide on the type of commutation. A shackle is conceivable, for example.
26.11.2025, 14:30
SDA
20 million too much spent
The case is not about the Libya affair, for which Sarkozy was recently imprisoned. Instead, it is about Sarkozy's failed re-election as president in 2012 and the money spent by his team. Campaign spending is capped in France in order to create more equal opportunities between candidates. In 2012, the permitted upper limit was 22.5 million euros.
In the appeal proceedings last year, the court ruled that Sarkozy's team had exceeded this cost limit by at least around 20 million euros. In order to cover up the additional expenditure, his party UMP - which has since been renamed Les Républicains - is said to have disguised expenses using a system of fictitious invoices. Although Sarkozy is not alleged to have invented the system, he is said to have ignored important clues. He was sentenced to a year in prison, six months of which were suspended.
Sarkozy had always denied the accusations. His lawyer Vincent Desry said: "Nicolas Sarkozy is completely innocent of what he is accused of in this case." He had not committed any funds and did not know that the cost limit had been exceeded.
Ankle bracelet and prison sentence
For the former president, the decision is another bitter defeat in his long-running, bitter battle with the French justice system. He already had to wear an ankle bracelet for around three months at the beginning of the year. The sentence was imposed for bribery and undue influence - accusations that Sarkozy had always denied.
And because he is alleged to have solicited funds from Libya for his 2007 election campaign, the former star of France's bourgeois right was temporarily sent to prison just over a month ago. In the meantime, the politician popularly known as "Sarko" has been allowed to leave his cell under certain conditions. Sarkozy also denied all charges in this case. He called his conviction a scandal and appealed.
Sarkozy already known for scandals in the past
The once enigmatic figure of Sarkozy has fallen into a deep slump with the multiple convictions, but is still considered an influential voice. The conservative's time in office at the Élysée Palace from 2007 to 2012 was already characterized by affairs involving rich friends, excessive government members and nepotism. Sarkozy finally lost the presidential re-election in 2012 to the socialist François Hollande. Five years later, he failed in the internal party selection process for the presidential election.
