On November 26, 2025, France’s highest court delivered a seismic blow to the country’s political landscape by upholding former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s conviction for illegal campaign financing. The ruling, handed down by the Cour de Cassation, confirmed a one-year prison sentence for Sarkozy, with six months suspended. At 70, Sarkozy is officially out of legal options, marking the end of a long saga that has both riveted and unsettled the French public. The verdict is more than a personal reckoning—it’s a defining moment for French democracy and the country’s strict campaign finance laws.
The roots of Sarkozy’s legal troubles stretch back to his extravagant 2012 re-election campaign, which was orchestrated with a level of grandeur rarely seen in French politics. According to Reuters, the campaign’s spending ballooned to nearly €43 million—almost double the legal limit of €22.5 million. Lavish rallies and American-style events were the order of the day, all designed to project strength and win over voters. But beneath the surface, a PR firm named Bygmalion was busy issuing false invoices to conceal the true cost, allowing the campaign to far exceed spending caps. The so-called Bygmalion affair became a byword for political excess and deception. Sarkozy was found responsible not for personally organizing the scheme, but as the main beneficiary of the overspending.
“The courts have demonstrated their independence,” iNews reported, emphasizing how the case reinforced the principle that no one—not even a former president—is above the law. The conviction and its confirmation by the highest court have set a powerful precedent. Sarkozy is the first president in the modern era of the Fifth Republic to be sentenced to and serve actual prison time. The ruling is a testament to the strength of French judicial institutions and a clear warning to those tempted to bend electoral rules.
Yet, the story doesn’t end there. While the court ordered Sarkozy to serve a year in prison, six months of that sentence were suspended, and he is expected to serve the remainder under house arrest with an electronic bracelet. This arrangement spares him a return to a prison cell, but it does little to repair the severe damage done to his public legacy. The conviction is not his only legal woe. Sarkozy recently spent 20 days in La Santé prison for a separate conviction involving illicit Libyan campaign funds. As The Telegraph detailed, Sarkozy chronicled those days in his new book, The Diary of a Prisoner, which offers a rare, first-person glimpse into the life of a former president behind bars.
In the book, Sarkozy recounts his life inside a 120-square-foot solitary cell, guarded around the clock by police officers from the VIP protection service. He was assigned the prison number 320535 and subsisted on dairy products, cereal bars, and mineral water. “I was struck by the absence of any colour. Grey dominated everything, devoured everything, covered all surfaces,” he wrote, describing the bleakness of his cell. Each day, he wrote with a ballpoint pen at a small plywood table, handing his pages to lawyers who then passed them to his secretary for typing. The book, published just a month after his release, is already making waves in France.
Sarkozy’s time in prison was not without drama. Days before his incarceration, President Emmanuel Macron offered him a transfer to a safer facility with apartments for prisoner families, citing security concerns. Sarkozy refused, insisting, “I would not accept ‘any preferential treatment’, as any modification was likely to cause controversy.” Despite their strained relationship, Macron was described as “troubled, even shocked” by Sarkozy’s impending jail time. The former president, however, dismissed the gesture as “too late and, above all, rather disorganised.”
The fallout from Sarkozy’s convictions has reverberated through French politics. His party, Les Républicains, has struggled to shake off the shadow of scandal. While Sarkozy’s influence lingers behind the scenes—current President Macron has consulted him recently—his ability to lead publicly is gone. The case has further tarnished the party’s image at a time when it is desperate to regain voter trust and relevance.
But Sarkozy’s political maneuvering hasn’t stopped. In excerpts from The Diary of a Prisoner and his forthcoming book The Journal of a Prisoner, published by La Tribune and RTL, Sarkozy revealed a telling conversation with Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally. After his conviction, Sarkozy contacted Le Pen to thank her for defending him. During their exchange, Le Pen asked, “Your voice carries weight with the popular electorate. Will you join any kind of ‘republican front’ in future elections?” Sarkozy’s response was unequivocal: “No, and moreover, I will stand by it by taking a public position on the matter when the time comes.”
Sarkozy elaborated that “the path to rebuilding the right can only be achieved through the broadest possible spirit of unity, without exclusion or condemnation.” His refusal to join a so-called republican front—a coalition of parties designed to block the hard right from power—signals a significant shift in French right-wing politics. Some former allies, like Xavier Bertrand, president of the Hauts-de-France region, have openly criticized Sarkozy’s stance, preferring his earlier, more combative opposition to the far right.
Meanwhile, Sarkozy’s legal battles are far from over. On September 25, 2025, he was sentenced to five years in prison and banned from public office after being found guilty of conspiring to finance his 2007 campaign with funds from Libya’s late dictator, Muammar Gaddafi. He is currently appealing that conviction and is set to be retried by the Paris Court of Appeal from March 16 to June 3, 2026. In the interim, he is banned from leaving France and from contacting certain individuals, including the current Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, who paid him a controversial visit in prison.
The former president’s troubles extend beyond France’s borders. He is under investigation for consulting work in Russia and for his alleged role in the controversial awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. Even Charles Kushner, the US ambassador to France and father of Jared Kushner, attempted to visit Sarkozy in prison—a visit Sarkozy declined on legal advice.
As France digests the finality of Sarkozy’s conviction and the spectacle of a former president behind bars, the implications for the country’s political future remain uncertain. The courts have spoken, and the message is clear: the law applies to all, regardless of rank or reputation. For Sarkozy, the chapter may be closed, but the lessons—and the questions—linger.
