What did Nicolas Sarkozy do? Why has he been sentenced? Will he go to jail?

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has lost his appeal against a prison sentence.

The ex-president has escaped prison after a Paris appeals court ruled that he could instead serve his sentence at home with a badge.

But what exactly did Nicolas Sarkozy do to get himself into trouble? Why isn’t he going to jail? When was he president of France?

Here’s everything you need to know about the former French president.

What did Nicolas Sarkozy do?

In 2021, Sarkozy was sentenced to a year in prison after being found guilty of illegal campaign financing in the 2012 French presidential election.

At the time, prosecutors were seeking at least six months of actual jail time for Sarkozy, along with a six-month suspended sentence.

His legal team subsequently filed an appeal, which was rejected by the Paris courts on Wednesday, May 17, 2023.

The ruling saved Sarkozy from prison, but he will be required to wear a badge while at home.

The scandal became known in France as the ‘Bygmalion case’, taken from the public relations firm involved.

Indeed, this is not the only scandal Sarkozy has found himself in.

After being inaugurated as France’s president, he invited former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to France, sparking controversy among members of the opposition party and even his own government.

It was Gaddafi’s first time in France in over 35 years and while there he signed a nuclear cooperation agreement with France.

During the 2011 Libyan civil war, Saif-al-Islam Gaddafi said in an interview that the Libyan state donated €50 million to Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign in exchange for favors from him.

Nicolas Sarkozy (right) is seen with former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi (left) during the signing of a trade contract between the two countries in 2007

Why was he convicted?

In the campaign finance case, Sarkozy was accused of spending nearly double the £19.5 million allocated under French law to re-election campaigns, during the 2012 re-election bid he lost to François Hollande.

Prosecutors say Sarkozy was warned just before election day that his campaign was close to the spending limit, but he continued to organize large rallies.

The campaign eventually raised nearly £37 million but failed to prevent Sarkozy from losing the race.

Sarkozy’s allies were then accused of collaborating with a PR firm called Bygmalion to cover up the spending.

Nicknamed ‘bling-bling’, he was criticized for his approach to politics, which was seen as unnecessarily exaggerated.

Sarkozy, 67, is the first former French president ever to receive a prison sentence.

Sarkozy can be seen here leaving the courthouse on Wednesday, May 17, 2023 after French courts decided to uphold his sentence. Sarkozy was president of France from 2007 to 2012

When was Sarkozy elected?

Sarkozy ran against Segolene Royal and made it to the final round of the 2007 French presidential election under the centre-right party Union for a Popular Movement (Union for a Popular Movement).

He pursued strict anti-immigration policies and attempted to reform the French economy during a presidency overshadowed by the global financial crisis.

While president, he was also charged with nepotism in October 2009 for helping his son, Jean, attempt to become head of the public agency that manages France’s largest business district.

Sarkozy’s conservative predecessor as France’s president, the late Jacques Chirac, was given a two-year suspended sentence in 2011 for corruption, but this was related to his time as mayor of Paris.

The last French head of state to go to a prison cell was Marshal Philippe Pétain, who collaborated with the Nazis during their occupation of France during World War II.