Former President Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of criminal conspiracy, according to a Paris court. However, he was acquitted of charges of passive corruption and embezzlement in the alleged Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign.
Court president Nathalie Gavarino explained that Sarkozy was found guilty of criminal conspiracy for "allowing his close associates to act with the aim of obtaining financial support" from the Libyan regime. The penalty for criminal conspiracy is five years in prison, two years less than the prosecution had requested for Sarkozy.
An appeal would put the former president at risk of being convicted of serious crimes (such as passive corruption and embezzlement) from which he was acquitted today in the first instance.
(Unioneonline)
