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Nicolas Sarkozy
A Paris court is deciding on Monday whether to release former French President Nicolas Sarkozy from prison, less than three weeks after he began serving a five-year sentence for criminal conspiracy in a scheme to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya. Sarkozy, 70, became the first former French head of state in modern times to be sent behind bars after his conviction on Sept. 25. He was jailed on Oct. 21 pending appeal but immediately filed for early release. Under French law, detention before an appeal ruling is supposed to be exceptional. Judges will weigh whether Sarkozy presents a flight risk, might pressure witnesses, or could obstruct justice. If the request is granted, Sarkozy could leave Paris' La Sante prison within hours under judicial supervision. The former president, who governed from 2007 to 2012, denies wrongdoing and says he is the victim of a plot linked to the former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Sarkozy also faces separate proceedings, includ
Nicolas Sarkozy will become the first former French president in living memory to be imprisoned when he is expected to begin a five-year sentence on Tuesday in Paris' La Sant prison. Convicted of criminal conspiracy in a scheme to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya, Sarkozy maintains his innocence. Regardless, he will be admitted to serve his time in a prison that has held some of the most high-profile inmates since the 19th century. They include Capt Alfred Dreyfus, wrongly convicted of treason because he was Jewish, and the Venezuelan militant known as Carlos the Jackal, who carried out several attacks on French soil. Sarkozy told Le Figaro newspaper that he expects to be held in solitary confinement, where he would be kept away from all other prisoners for security reasons. Another possibility is that he is held in the prison's section for vulnerable" inmates, colloquially known as the VIP section. Former La Sant inmates described their experiences and what
France's highest court has upheld an appeal court decision which had found former President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling while he was the country's head of state. Sarkozy, 69, faces a year in prison, but is expected to ask to be detained at home with an electronic bracelet as is the case for any sentence of two years or less. He was found guilty of corruption and influence peddling by both a Paris court in 2021 and an appeals court in 2023 for trying to bribe a magistrate in exchange for information about a legal case in which he was implicated. "The convictions and sentences are therefore final, a Court of Cassation statement on Wednesday said. Sarkozy, who was France's president from 2007 to 2012, retired from public life in 2017 though still plays an influential role in French conservative politics. He was among the guests who attended the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral earlier this month. Sarkozy, in a statement posted on X, said I will assum