A trial has opened of France’s former President Nicolas Sarkozy and 11 co-defendants over alleged illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign by the government of then-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has gone on trial in Paris, accused of taking millions of euros of illicit funds from the late Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi to finance his 2007 election campaign. In exchange, the prosecution alleges Sarkozy promised to help Gaddafi combat his reputation as a pariah with Western countries.