(FILES) Eric Woerth, defendant and former head of campaign financing of French president Nicolas Sarkozy is seen at Paris courthouse in Paris, on January 6, 2025, during a break of the opening hearing of Sarkozy's trial on charges of accepting illegal campaign financing in an alleged pact with the late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi. In September 2025, the Paris criminal court handed down a heavy sentence against Nicolas Sarkozy, punishing "corruption at the highest level" of "exceptional gravity" in order "to obtain Libya's commitment to provide financial support" for his 2007 presidential campaign. Nicolas Sarkozy, who has always disputed this account, will now have to challenge on appeal the findings of the trial judges, who identified him as both an actor in and a beneficiary of a criminal conspiracy starting on March 16, 2026. (Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP via Getty Images)