Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to appear in court today to appeal his conviction for criminal conspiracy related to efforts to secure funds for his election campaign from Libya. Sarkozy was sentenced last year to five years in prison, becoming the first post-war French president to end up in prison. He led the country from 2007 to 2012.

Sarkozy was jailed in October at La Santé Prison in Paris but was released after three weeks after a court granted his request for release under judicial supervision. The measures included a ban on leaving France. The case is related to allegations that he received millions of euros from Libya during the rule of the late dictator Muammar Gaddafi to finance his 2007 presidential campaign. Sarkozy has consistently denied all charges.

According to the investigation, he is suspected of having reached an agreement with Gaddafi in 2005, when he was France’s interior minister, to secure funding for his campaign in exchange for political support for the Libyan regime, which was at the time isolated on the international stage. However, the judges stated that there was no direct evidence that such an agreement had been made or that money from Libya had ended up in Sarkozy’s campaign funds. They stressed that the possible routes of the money remain “very murky”, but found him guilty of criminal conspiracy during the period 2005–2007, allowing his associates to contact Libyan officials to secure funding.

In a joint statement, human rights organizations Sherpa, Anticor and Transparency International France stressed that the fight against corruption is essential for protecting the rule of law and preserving democracy. Meanwhile, Sarkozy's lawyer, Christophe Ingrain, said there would be no comment before the appeal process begins.