Prosecutors seek seven years in jail for Sarkozy

Fine of 300,000 euros also recommended in Libya trial

PARIS:

French prosecutors requested on Thursday a seven-year prison sentence for former president Nicolas Sarkozy in his trial on charges of accepting illegal campaign financing in an alleged pact with the late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

Sarkozy, president from 2007-2012 and who denies the charges, was already convicted and jailed for one year in a separate influence-peddling case, a sentence he is currently serving with an electronic tag rather than in prison. Prosecutors also recommended a fine of 300,000 euros ($330,000) and a five-year ban on holding office.

Sarkozy sat stone-faced as the requests were read out, an AFP reporter in the courtroom said.

Sarkozy later posted on social media that the prosecution's request was "an outrage", calling the allegations against him both "false" and "violent".

"I will therefore continue to fight step by step for the truth, and for my faith in the wisdom of the court," he said. Sarkozy maintained throughout the trial that he had never accepted any money from Kadhafi.

"You will never ever find a single euro, a single Libyan cent, in my campaign," he said in January.

But prosecutor Sebastien de la Touanne said that in 12 weeks of hearings, "a very dark picture of a part of our republic has emerged".

He accused Sarkozy of a "frantic quest for funding" to satisfy a "consuming political ambition" and said that "only a prison sentence and a fixed fine" would be "capable of protecting society".

Sarkozy "does not seem to appreciate the seriousness of the breaches of integrity" which he is accused of, the prosecutor added.

Twelve suspects are standing trial, including former close aides, accused of devising a pact with Kadhafi to illegally fund Sarkozy's victorious 2007 presidential election bid.