French Ex-President Sarkozy Begins Jail Sentence for Campaign Finance Conspiracy

French Ex-President Sarkozy Begins Jail Sentence for Campaign Finance Conspiracy
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Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy began serving a five-year prison sentence on Tuesday at Paris’s La Santé prison after being convicted of conspiring to secure illegal campaign funds from Libya for his 2007 presidential bid. He is the first French leader to serve jail time since World War II.

The verdict follows years of legal proceedings over allegations that Sarkozy’s campaign received millions of euros in cash from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed during the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.

Sarkozy has also been convicted in a separate corruption case involving attempts to obtain confidential information from a judge in exchange for professional favors; he is serving that sentence under electronic monitoring.

Legal analysts told Reuters that French courts are increasingly enforcing immediate execution of sentences, even during appeals, to counter perceptions of political impunity. Despite backlash from Sarkozy’s allies, an Elabe poll showed that 58% of French citizens consider the ruling fair.