The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been convicted of illegal campaign financing in his failed 2012 re-election bid, after the country’s highest court rejected his final appeal.

Sarkozy, who was the country’s rightwing president between 2007 and 2012, was convicted of hiding illegal overspending for his unsuccessful re-election campaign that was shaped by vast American-style rallies.

The case was labelled the “Bygmalion” affair because of the name of the events company that organised Sarkozy’s elaborate and artfully filmed stadium gigs in front of thousands of flag-waving fans when he was fighting for re-election. He ultimately lost to the Socialist party’s François Hollande.

In a 2021 trial, the state prosecutor had highlighted Sarkozy’s “couldn’t care less” attitude in

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