France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy arrived for a hearing in his appeal trial on Tuesday (April 7) against a conviction for which he was briefly jailed last year.

Sarkozy was convicted of criminal conspiracy over attempts to procure campaign funds from Libya, after years of legal battles over allegations that his successful 2007 election campaign took millions in cash from Libya during the rule of late dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Sarkozy, who has always denied the charges, was incarcerated in October at La Sante prison in Paris and was freed three weeks later, after a court agreed to release him under judicial supervision, which included a ban on leaving France. He was initially sentenced to a five-year prison term.

He was accused of making a deal with Gaddafi in 2005, when he was France's interior minister, to obtain campaign financing in exchange for supporting the then-isolated Libyan government on the international stage.

Judges said there was no proof that Sarkozy made such a deal with Gaddafi, nor that money that was sent from Libya reached Sarkozy's campaign coffers, even if the timing was "compatible" and the paths the money went through were "very opaque."

But they said Sarkozy was guilty of criminal conspiracy between 2005 and 2007 for having let close aides get in touch with people in Libya to try and obtain campaign financing.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

PARIS, FRANCE (APRIL 7, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. FORMER FRENCH PRESIDENT, NICOLAS SARKOZY, ARRIVING FOR HEARING IN APPEAL TRIAL / SARKOZY WALKING TO COURTROOM

2. SIGN READING (French): “COURT OF APPEAL - FIRST CHAMBER”

3. MEDIA WALKING TOWARDS COURTROOM

4. POLICE OFFICER LOOKING ON

5. FORMER FRENCH INTERIOR MINISTER, BRICE HORTEFEUX, ARRIVING FOR HEARING

6. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN CORRIDOR OF COURT BUILDING