A Paris court on Thursday found former President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of conspiring to obtain illegal campaign funds from the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The ruling was the latest in a series of legal decisions for the 70-year-old former right-wing leader, who has denied the charges. Sarkozy, who was the French president from 2007 to 2012, has already been convicted in two separate cases and stripped of France’s highest honor.
The trial was overshadowed on Tuesday by the death in Beirut of French-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, the main defendant in Sarkozy’s case.
Takieddine has repeatedly said he helped Sarkozy and the former president’s chief of staff transfer up to five million euros ($6 million) in cash from Gaddafi in 2006 and 2007.
The court has demanded a 7-year prison sentence for Sarkozy; however, even if convicted, Sarkozy is likely to appeal, and it is doubtful that he will be sent to prison immediately.
