PARIS — Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy went on trial Monday in Paris over accusations that he had received illegal funding for his 2007 electoral campaign from ousted Libyan leader Moammar Ghaddafi.
Sarkozy arrived at the Paris Tribunal for the opening of his trial and is expected to attend the court sessions over the coming month. The trial itself is set to continue until April 10. The former French president is also entangled in other legal affairs. Last December, France's highest court upheld an appeals court ruling that found Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling during his presidency, sentencing him to one year of house arrest with an electronic bracelet.
The Libyan affair
Sarkozy is accused of illegally accepting around $55 million from Gadhafi to help finance his victorious 2007 election campaign. The prosecution claims that in exchange for the funds, Sarkozy and senior figures, including two former ministers, pledged to help Gadhafi rehabilitate his international image as a terror-supporting state. This followed the 1988 downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, when a bomb planted by Libyan citizens killed 259 people, and the 1989 explosion of UTA Flight 772, in which Libyan agents planted a bomb on board, killing 170 passengers and crew.
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