A court in Paris on Thursday found Nicolas Sarkozy, former president of France, guilty of a criminal conspiracy to illegally finance his 2007 campaign with funds from the government of the onetime Libyan strongman Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
But Mr. Sarkozy, a conservative politician who led France from 2007 to 2012, was acquitted by the court on corruption charges.
The conviction was not the first for Mr. Sarkozy, who since leaving office has already been found guilty of corruption, influence peddling and campaign spending violations in separate cases. He has also been stripped of France’s highest distinction, the Legion of Honor.
But the ruling on Thursday was perhaps the most severe and most damaging blow to Mr. Sarkozy’s legacy, with the court finding that he was guilty of scheming to reach the most powerful office in France by seeking money from an autocratic government.
Nathalie Gavarino, the presiding judge, said as she read out the court’s ruling that Mr. Sarkozy had allowed his top aides, who “acted in his name,” to “obtain or try to obtain” the illegal funding from Libya.
Mr. Sarkozy, now 70, no longer holds any public office, but he is a well-regarded figure on the right who retains some political influence. At the three-month trial, held in Paris this year, he repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
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