Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy Begins Appeal of Corruption Conviction

The conservative centrist was jailed after being found guilty of conspiring to procure campaign funding from the Libyan government of Muammar Gaddafi.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy leave their home as Nicolas Sarkozy heads to prison to serve time for a criminal conspiracy to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya, in Paris, on Oct. 21, 2025. Thibault Camus/AP Photo

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was due in court on March 16 to appeal his conviction for criminal ​conspiracy over attempts to procure campaign funds from Libya, for ‌which he was sentenced to five years in prison last September.

Sarkozy, 71, became the first post-war president of France to be imprisoned when he was incarcerated at La Santé prison in Paris last October, before being released pending appeal three weeks later.