PARIS, Sept 25, (AP): A Paris court found former French president Nicolas Sarkozy guilty on some but not all charges on Thursday in his trial for the alleged illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign with money from the government of then-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The court is still detailing its ruling and hasn’t immediately sentenced the 70-year-old Sarkozy.

That step would come later in the court proceedings Thursday. Sarkozy can appeal the guilty verdict, which would suspend any sentence pending the appeal. Prosecutors have argued for a seven-year prison sentence. Sarkozy, accompanied by his wife, the singer and model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, was present in the courtroom, which was also filled with reporters and members of the public.

Sarkozy sat in the front row of the defendant's seats. His three adult sons were also in the room. With the verdict, the 70-year-old Sarkozy becomes the first former French president found guilty of accepting illegal foreign funds to win office. Sarkozy, who was elected in 2007 but lost his bid for reelection in 2012, denied all wrongdoing during a three-month trial that also involved 11 co-defendants, including three former ministers.

Despite multiple legal scandals that have clouded his presidential legacy, Sarkozy remains an influential figure in right-wing politics in France and in entertainment circles, by virtue of his marriage to Bruni-Sarkozy. The accusations trace their roots to 2011, when a Libyan news agency and Gaddafi himself said the Libyan state had secretly funneled millions of euros into Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign.

In 2012, the French investigative outlet Mediapart published what it said was a Libyan intelligence memo referencing a 50 million-euro funding agreement. Sarkozy denounced the document as a forgery and sued for defamation. French magistrates later said that the memo appeared to be authentic, though no conclusive evidence of a completed transaction was presented at the three-month Paris trial.

Investigators also looked into a series of trips to Libya made by people close to Sarkozy when he served as interior minister from 2005 and 2007, including his chief of staff. In 2016, Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine told Mediapart that he had delivered suitcases filled with cash from Tripoli to the French Interior Ministry under Sarkozy. He later retracted his statement.