Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy will face a new trial on appeals over allegations that his presidential campaign was illegally financed with Libyan funds, a Paris court said Thursday.
The process will begin on March 16, and according to the decision of the appellate court, it will last until June 3.
In September, a lower court found Sarkozy, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, guilty of trying to obtain money from Libya for his campaign to win power.
Seventy-year-old Sarkozy was sentenced to five years in prison, but he was released from La Santé prison in Paris after only 20 days, by the decision of the judge who approved his temporary freedom.
Although he immediately filed an appeal, the court then justified the detention decision by the “extreme gravity” of the charges.
By filing an appeal, Sarkozy regained the status of innocent until the end of the proceedings, and he himself claims that he did nothing illegal.
Prosecutors claim that his associates, acting on his behalf, arranged illegal financing of the presidential campaign with Gaddafi back in 2005, and in return the Libyan leader was promised help in repairing his international image after Tripoli was accused of terrorist attacks in 1988 and 1989.
The court found Sarkozy guilty of criminal conspiracy to finance the campaign, but did not find that he personally received or used the disputed funds.
Sarkozy has previously faced a series of legal problems after losing the 2012 election, and has already been convicted in two separate cases related to corruption and abuse of political influence.
(Vijesti.ba)
