Paris, March 7, (dpa/GNA) – Former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, on Tuesday insisted on his innocence in an appeal trial over allegations that he conspired to receive illegal funding for his 2007 election campaign from Libya.
According to French media reports from the courtroom, Sarkozy said not a single cent from Libya had flowed into his election campaign, and denied ever being under the influence of the North African country’s then leader, Moamer Gaddafi.
The so-called Libya affair is considered the most serious legal case facing Sarkozy.
In a first ruling last year, the court found no evidence that Sarkozy had received money from Gaddafi.
However, it concluded that the former president and his associates had attempted to secure such funding, sentencing Sarkozy to five years in prison for membership of a criminal organization, the harshest penalty given to a former French head of state in modern history.
Sarkozy spent just under three weeks behind bars in Paris late last year, after the court ruled the sentence should be provisionally enforced. He was later released under judicial supervision while awaiting the appeal proceedings.
The conservative politician has consistently denied the allegations.
The appeal proceedings are set to run until the end of May.
GNA