Sarkozy: Divisive French ex-president beset by legal woes

He goes on trial on Monday on charges he used illegal campaign financing from Libyan dictator Gaddafi to fund his victorious 2007 presidential election campaign

Nicolas Sarkozy, who ruled France as a tough-talking rightwing president from 2007 to 2012, is seen by supporters as a dynamic saviour of his country but by detractors as a vulgar populist mired in corruption.

The pugnacious politician on Monday goes on trial on charges he used illegal campaign financing from Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to fund his victorious 2007 presidential campaign, accusations he vehemently denies.

The trial is just the latest legal headache for Sarkozy who in December was definitively condemned by France on influencepeddling charges after his final appeal was rejected by the Court of Cassation.

He was sentenced to one year in prison, the first time a former French head of state has been given such a sanction, although he is due to serve the time wearing an electronic bracelet outside of jail. Defiant as ever, Sarkozy said he was "not ready to accept the profound injustice that is being done to me" and added he would use to the sole remaining legal path-the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to prove his innocence.

Last year, a Paris appeals court confirmed a conviction against Sarkozy in another illegal campaign financing case, ruling he should serve six months prison, with another six months suspended. That verdict can still go to a higher appeals court.