The French prosecution has requested a one-year suspended prison sentence for former President Nicolas Sarkozy in his appeal trial on charges of exceeding campaign spending limits during his 2012 presidential campaign.
The prosecutor, Bruno Rivel, stated that Sarkozy “deliberately violated the legal boundaries imposed on election expenses.”
In the initial trial, the prosecution had sought a one-year prison term, with six months suspended. In September 2021, Sarkozy was sentenced to one year in prison, and the criminal court ordered the immediate execution of the sentence with electronic monitoring.
Regarding the other nine defendants in the “Pygmalion” case, the company that organized Sarkozy’s campaign meetings, the prosecution has requested sentences ranging from 18 months to 4 years, all of which would be suspended. Some of them also face fines ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 euros.
Unlike the other defendants, the former president is not charged with fraudulent invoices aimed at concealing campaign expenses, which reached 43 million euros, well above the legal limit of 22.5 million euros.
The trial court previously noted that Sarkozy “continued to organize campaign meetings and requested daily meetings despite being warned in writing about the risk of exceeding the legal spending limit and then being warned again that he had exceeded it.”
Before the appeals court, the former president vehemently denied “any criminal responsibility” and denounced “lies.”
Sarkozy faces other legal battles, including a three-year prison sentence, one of which is non-suspended, in connection with a wiretapping case in May of last year. He has appealed this decision to the Court of Cassation.
In 2025, he will also appear before the judiciary on suspicion of receiving funding from Libya for his 2007 presidential campaign.
