Court upholds Sarkozy's sentence in Bygmalion affair, he spent millions over campaign limit

The French Supreme Court upholds the conviction of former President Nicolas Sarkozy for illegally financing the 2012 presidential campaign. The court rejected his appeal and upheld his one-year sentence, half of which is suspended.

In the case known as the Bygmalion affair, Sarkozy exceeded the legal campaign limit by almost double, spending around 43 million euros. His party allegedly tried to hide the spending by using a PR agency.

Lawyers for the ex-president are considering taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Sarkozy has previously spent 20 days in detention in another case and received another sentence in September for illegally financing his 2007 campaign through contacts in Libya.

(reuters, swag)