Former President Nicolas Sarkozy of France on Monday went on trial in Paris over accusations that his 2007 marketing campaign acquired unlawful financing from the Libyan authorities of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
The trial, which is scheduled to final three months, is way from the primary for Mr. Sarkozy, 69, a conservative politician who led France from 2007 to 2012, but it surely represents one of the vital critical authorized threats to the French politician since he left workplace.
Simply final month, Mr. Sarkozy exhausted his last enchantment in a separate corruption and affect peddling case, making him the primary former French president sentenced to precise detention, although he’ll serve his time underneath home arrest with an digital bracelet.
However of all of the authorized instances in opposition to Mr. Sarkozy, the Libya one is among the many most sprawling, convoluted and explosive. It entails accusations that his marketing campaign illegally accepted huge sums of cash from Colonel Qaddafi, the previous Libyan strongman who was killed by opposition fighters in 2011.
Mr. Sarkozy, who has denied wrongdoing, may withstand 10 years in jail and be fined practically $400,000.
