The former French president spearheaded a war that destroyed the African country

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to five years in prison after a Paris court found him guilty of criminal conspiracy for receiving campaign funding from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Judges ruled on Thursday that Sarkozy, who led France from 2007 to 2012, benefited from secret payments linked to his 2007 presidential campaign and ordered him to begin serving the term even if he appeals. The start of his sentence will be set at a later date.

The case began in 2011, when Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam claimed his father had financed Sarkozy's campaign with about 50 million ($54.3 million). The following year, Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine alleged he had delivered 5 million from Tripoli to Paris in 2006, though he later withdrew the claim. French police opened a formal probe in 2013.

Prosecutors said Sarkozy made a deal with Gaddafi in 2005, while serving as interior minister, to secure campaign funds in exchange for supporting Libya's reintegration on the world stage. The court convicted him of conspiracy but acquitted him of passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, and concealment of embezzlement.

During the trial, Sarkozy dismissed the charges as politically motivated, describing the case as a "plot" by the "Gaddafi clan" and calling his accusers "liars and crooks." He can appeal, which would delay the sentence, though prosecutors had pressed for seven years in prison.

The 70-year-old has been on trial since January. The court ruled that the conspiracy occurred between 2005 and 2007, before he gained presidential immunity.

Sarkozy has a long history of legal entanglements. In December 2024, France's highest court upheld a corruption and influence-peddling conviction from 2021 and ordered him to wear an electronic tag for a year. He was also sentenced for illegal campaign financing tied to his failed 2012 re-election bid, serving the term at home under monitoring. Earlier in 2025, he was stripped of the Legion of Honor under rules that remove members given prison terms of at least one year.