France, March 17 -- In 1989, 170 people of 17 nationalities - including 53 French citizens - were killed when a UTA airliner, travelling from Brazzaville to Paris, exploded over the Tenere Desert in Niger. There were no survivors.

The attack was attributed to Libyan intelligence operatives linked to Muammar Gaddafi's regime. Abduallah Sanussi was one of six Libyan agents convicted in absentia in 1999 and handed life sentences.

In 2025, Sarkozy was found guilty of conspiracy over allegedly accepting €50 million in campaign funds from Gaddafi's regime in 2005, in exchange for authorising his aides to review Sanoussi's international arrest warrant 

Sarkozy received a five-year prison sentence (three years suspended), altho...