PARIS, March 16 (Reuters) - Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to appear in court on Monday to appeal a conviction for criminal conspiracy over attempts to procure campaign funds from Libya, for which he received a five-year jail sentence last year.
It made Sarkozy the first post-war president of France to be imprisoned - a stunning downfall for a man who led the country from 2007 to 2012. He was incarcerated in October at La Sante prison in Paris and was freed three weeks later, after a court agreed to release him under judicial supervision, which included a ban on leaving France.
Sarkozy's conviction capped years of legal battles over allegations that his successful 2007 election campaign took millions in cash from Libya during the rule of late dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Sarkozy, who has always denied the charges, was accused of making a deal with Gaddafi in 2005, when he was France's interior minister, to obtain campaign financing in exchange for supporting the then-isolated Libyan government on the international stage.
Judges said there was no proof that Sarkozy made such a deal with Gaddafi, nor that money that was sent from Libya reached Sarkozy's campaign coffers, even if the timing was "compatible" and the paths the money went through were "very opaque".
But they said Sarkozy was guilty of criminal conspiracy between 2005 and 2007 for having let close aides get in touch with people in Libya to try and obtain campaign financing.
"The fight against corruption is not just a matter of integrity: it is a prerequisite for protecting the rule of law and maintaining effective democracy," said rights groups Sherpa, Anticor and Transparency International France in a statement on Friday.
Sarkozy's lawyer Christophe Ingrain said he had no comment ahead of the appeal trial opening.
(Reporting by Juliette JabkhiroEditing by Gareth Jones)
