France, April 8 -- A lower court in September found Sarkozy, who was president from 2007 to 2012, guilty of seeking to acquire funding from then-Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi for the campaign that saw him elected, and sentenced him to five years behind bars.

The case saw Sarkozy, who has always denied any wrongdoing, become modern France's first president to have been jailed.

He served 20 days before he was released pending the appeal.

In the initial trial, prosecutors argued that Sarkozy's aides, acting in his name, struck a deal with Gaddafi, promising in return to help restore the Libyan leader's international image after Tripoli was blamed for two aeroplane bombings.

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