Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to a year of house arrest after illegally financing his campaign for re-election in 2012.
A court in Paris said Sarkozy will be made to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.
The 66-year-old, France’s president from 2007 to 2012, has vigorously denied wrongdoing and will appeal against the decision, his lawyer said.
Sarkozy was not present in court for the verdict.
Sarkozy jokes with then-British prime minister Tony Blair in 2007
He is accused of having spent almost twice the maximum legal amount of €22.5million (£19.4million) on the re-election bid that he lost to Socialist Francois Hollande.
The court stated that Sarkozy “knew” the legal limit was at stake and “voluntarily” failed to supervise additional expenses.
Prosecutors had requested a six-month prison term, as well as a six-month suspended sentence and a fine of €3,750 (£3,238).
Thursday’s verdict comes after Sarkozy was found guilty of corruption and influence-peddling in another case on 1 March. He was sentenced to one year in prison and a two-year suspended sentence in that case but is free pending appeal.
In the campaign financing case, prosecutors concluded that Sarkozy knew weeks before the 2012 election that his expenses – which are strictly limited under French law – were getting close to the legal maximum.
They accused him of ignoring two notes from his accountants warning about the money issue.
Former French president Sarkozy at Paris courthouse, on 23 November, 2020
Prosecutors argued that Sarkozy was “the only person responsible for his campaign financing” and that he chose to exceed the limit by organising several rallies, some of them very large.
During his hearing, Sarkozy told the court that the extra money did not go into his campaign, but instead helped make other people richer.
He denied any “fraudulent intent”. He also said he did not handle the day-to-day organisation because he had a team to do that and therefore could not be blamed for the amount of spending.
Thirteen other people, in addition to the former president, went on trial, including members of his conservative Republicans party, accountants and heads of the communication group in charge of organising the rallies, Bygmalion.
They face charges including forgery, breach of trust, fraud and complicity in illegal campaign financing.
Some have acknowledged wrongdoing and detailed the system of false invoices that aimed to cover up the overspending.
Prosecutors have requested mostly suspended prison sentences, and up to one year in prison for Bygmalion’s co-founder.
Sarkozy retired from active politics in 2017, but is still playing a role behind the scenes.
French media have reported that he is involved in the process of choosing a conservative candidate ahead of the country’s presidential election next year.
