Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy faces trial over Libya financing for 2007 campaign

Nicolas Sarkozy greets Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi upon his arrival at the Elysee Palace, in Paris in December 2007 (AP)

French magistrates have ordered former president Nicolas Sarkozy and 12 others to go on trial on charges that his 2007 presidential campaign received millions in illegal financing from the government of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The national financial prosecutor, Jean-François Bohnert, announced that the decade-long investigation has been formally closed. The trial will run from January to April 2025, the statement said.