General
Prosecutors Seek 7-Year Sentence for Nicolas Sarkozy in Libya Trial
The former French president has been convicted before, but the charge that he took illegal campaign funding from the regime of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi has been the most damaging to his legacy.
French prosecutors requested a seven-year prison sentence against former President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday, in a trial over accusations that his 2007 campaign received illegal financing from the Libyan government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
Such a sentence would be unprecedented in modern French history for a former president.
Mr. Sarkozy, a conservative politician who led France from 2007 to 2012, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and judges at the Paris court where he has been on trial since January may or may not follow the prosecution’s request if he is found guilty. His lawyers are expected to lay out their closing arguments next month, and the court is expected to defer its verdict to a later date.
The severity of the sentence request showed that the Libya case is a far more serious threat to Mr. Sarkozy’s legacy than his many other legal entanglements, some of which have already resulted in convictions. In addition to prison time, prosecutors also requested that Mr. Sarkozy, 70, pay a fine of 300,000 euros, or about $340,000; that he be barred from running for office, and that he be stripped of certain civic rights.
Mr. Sarkozy, who no longer holds public office but retains some political influence, lashed out against the sentencing recommendations on Thursday, saying in a statement on social media that the “falseness and violence of the accusations and the outrageousness of the sentence demanded” aimed to “mask the weakness” of the prosecution’s case.
The Libya case is sprawling, convoluted and explosive, involving accusations that Mr. Sarkozy’s campaign illegally accepted funding from Mr. el-Qaddafi, the former Libyan strongman who was killed by opposition fighters in 2011.