France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy has told an appeal court "I am innocent" – rejecting charges he had sought Libyan financing for his 2007 election campaign in exchange for helping improve Tripoli's image after deadly bombings.
A lower court in September found Sarkozy, who was president from 2007 to 2012, guilty of seeking to acquire funding from then-Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi for the campaign that saw him elected, and sentenced him to five years behind bars.
