Nicolas Sarkozy's Libyan Financing Appeal Trial Scheduled for March-June 2026

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is set to face an appeal trial from March 16 to June 3, 2026, over allegations of illicit Libyan funding during his 2007 presidential campaign, as announced by the Paris Court of Appeal on November 13, 2025. Sarkozy was previously sentenced on September 25 to five years in prison for association with criminals and was found guilty of knowingly allowing his collaborators to solicit illegal funding from the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. After serving three weeks in La Santé prison, he was released under judicial supervision. Alongside Sarkozy, nine other individuals, including former close aides Claude Guéant and Brice Hortefeux, will be retried in the appeal. Alexandre Djouhri, an intermediary also sentenced to six years, remains incarcerated. Charges against the late Franco-Lebanese intermediary Ziad Takieddine and Thierry Gaubert, convicted in a separate case, were dismissed. Additionally, three individuals, including former ministers Eric Woerth and Edouard Ullmo, were acquitted, though the national financial prosecutor's office has appealed the verdicts for most defendants except Ahmed Bugshan. Sarkozy continues to maintain his innocence and expressed on social media his determination to prepare for the appeal and confidence that "the truth will prevail." This upcoming trial comes amid other national events such as the annual commemoration of the 2015 Paris attacks and ongoing diplomatic efforts in Algerian relations, highlighting the breadth of significant political and social issues in France currently.