The prosecution in the appeal trial against Nicolas Sarkozy over alleged corruption on Wednesday called for a seven-year prison sentence for the former French president - the same penalty they had asked for at the first trial.
The Paris prosecutor is also calling for a fine of €300,000 ($350,000).
Prosecutors accuse Sarkozy, 71, of forming a criminal organization, bribery, illegal campaign financing and of having benefited from the embezzlement of public funds.
The affair centred on Sarkozy allegedly accepting campaign funding from Libya. He repeated his claim of innocence during the appeal proceedings.
Not a single cent from Libya had flowed into his election campaign, and he had not been under the influence of the then Libyan ruler Moamer Gaddafi, Sarkozy said in his testimony to the court.
In the first instance, the court found no evidence that Sarkozy had actually taken any money from Gaddafi for the 2007 presidential campaign. However, in the court’s view, the conservative politician and his close confidants had tried to obtain the money.
Sarkozy had been found guilty in the first instance of membership in a criminal organization and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. He spent several weeks behind bars.
This meant that Sarkozy received a harsher sentence than any previous head of state in recent French history. The former head of state’s lawyers had called for an acquittal.
Sarkozy has consistently denied the allegations. The appeal trial is due to run until the end of May.
Alongside Sarkozy, 10 other defendants are standing trial in the appeal proceedings, including former ministers Claude Guéant, Éric Woerth and Brice Hortefeux.
