TOPSHOT-FRANCE-JUSTICE-TRIAL-POLITICS-LIBYA-SARKOZY

TOPSHOT - Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy (R) with his wife Carla Bruni (L) arrives for the verdict in his trial for illegal campaign financing from Libya for his successful 2007 presidential bid, at the Tribunal de Paris courthouse in Paris, on September 25, 2025. A Paris court is to issue its verdict on September 25, 2025 in the trial of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy and 11 co-defendants on charges of accepting illegal campaign financing from late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi, with prosecutors demanding a seven-year prison sentence. The ruling is the latest in a string of legal hurdles for the right-wing ex-leader, 70, who denies the charges. Sarkozy, who was president from 2007 to 2012, has already been convicted in two separate cases and stripped of France's highest honour. (Photo by Alain JOCARD / AFP) (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images)