French prosecutors seek conviction of Nicolas Sarkozy for criminal conspiracy in Libyan financing case

French prosecutors on Monday requested that the Paris Court of Appeal find former President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of criminal conspiracy (association de malfaiteurs) in the appeal trial over alleged Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign, describing him as the central figure in a corruption pact with the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

Advocate General Damien Brunet told the court on May 11 that Sarkozy was "the instigator of meetings with high Libyan dignitaries" and that "he is the one without whom all these meetings and fund transfers would have had no interest." Brunet said the criminal conspiracy "places itself in the highest levels of gravity that the Republic has known." The prosecution also requested guilty verdicts for former ministers Brice Hortefeux and Claude Guéant on the same charge.

The trial, which has lasted eight weeks, centers on allegations that Sarkozy and his associates struck a "pact of corruption" with Gaddafi's regime to obtain illicit funds for the 2007 campaign via intermediary Ziad Takieddine. One alleged counterpart was the review of the legal situation of Abdallah Senoussi, convicted in absentia for the 1989 UTA Flight 772 bombing that killed 170 people. Brunet said Hortefeux "made time to meet, in the presence of Ziad Takieddine, a terrorist" — referring to Senoussi — and described Guéant as "the hub" who "controls everything and everyone."

Advocate General Rodolphe Juy-Birmann, opening the prosecution's closing arguments, said the case "has largely contributed to degrading the social pact" and that "no election justifies compromise." He cited an "strange feeling of unease" and stressed that "the right to free elections rests on a central pillar of democratic society."

In the first trial, Sarkozy was convicted of criminal conspiracy and sentenced to five years in prison. He served three weeks at La Santé prison in autumn 2025. The prosecution's closing arguments are scheduled to continue until Wednesday.