Nicolas Sarkozy serving prison sentence is ‘completely unprecedented’
As the third French leader in history to go to prison, and the first since World War II, Sarkoy’s incarceration is “completely unprecedented”.
FRANCE 24’s Philip Turle looks into what makes this decision historic.
How former French president Sarkozy took millions from Libya’s Gaddafi
It’s a story with all the makings of a seedy spy thriller: France’s right-wing former president Nicolas Sarkozy accepted suitcases full of cash from Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to finance his 2007 campaign.
Read the full story on our website by clicking here.
How former French president Sarkozy took millions from Libya’s Gaddafi
It’s a story with all the makings of a seedy spy thriller: France’s right-wing former president Nicolas Sarkozy accepted suitcases full of cash from Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to finance his 2007 campaign.
From power to prison: The stunning downfall of Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy has become the first French head of state to face prison in decades. It was a stunning fall for a man who was once a dynamic and controversial leader who promised to transform France.
French ex-president Sarkozy’s lawyer says he has requested parole
Sarkozy’s lawyers spoke in front of the Paris prison of La Santé after the former French president entered it to start serving his five-year sentence.
His legal team has lodged a request for parole, with their mission being to remove him from the prison “as quickly as possible”.
FRANCE 24’s Clovis Casali reports from the scene.
Supporters chanted ‘Nicolas, Nicolas!’ as Sarkozy left his home
The former French president walked out of his home hand-in-hand with his singer wife, Carla Bruni, and left in a car escorted by police on motorbikes.
“Nicolas, Nicolas! Free Nicolas,” shouted a crowd who gathered in the road outside to show their support.
FRANCE 24’s Ellen Gainsford reported live from the scene.
Sarkozy enters Paris prison
“Welcome Sarkozy!”, “Sarkozy’s here,” reporters heard convicts shouting from their cells.
Sarkozy says ‘innocent man is being locked up’
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has arrived at La Santé prison in Paris to start his five-year prison term.
“An innocent man is being locked up,” he wrote earlier in a post on X.
“I am not asking for any advantages or favours,” he added. “The truth will prevail.”
Sarkozy leaves his residence and heads to La Santé prison in Paris for incarceration
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy left his home in Paris hand in hand with his wife Carla Bruni on to go to the capital’s La Sante prison to start a five-year prison term.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy leaves his house with his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy on the day of his incarceration. © Sarah Meyssonnier, Reuters
Rally in support of Sarkozy outside of his residence
People hold a French flag with the Lorraine cross as they attend a gathering called by the sons of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy in support of their father. © Sarah Meyssonnier, Reuters
A man wearing a t-shirt with a portrait of Nicolas Sarkozy and the slogan “the end of the story is not written” attends a gathering called by the sons of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy in support of their father. © Sarah Meyssonnier, Reuters
Sarkozy faces ‘tough time’, solitary confinement in Paris prison
Sarkozy will be facing a “tough time” in Paris’s La Santé prison, FRANCE 24 reporter Clovis Casali said.
The former president is likely to be held in a nine-square-metre cell within the solitary confinement wing of the prison, staff said. This would avoid Sarkozy having to interact with other prisoners or them taking pictures of him with one of the many mobile phones that are smuggled inside
In solitary confinement, prisoners are allowed out of their cells for one walk a day, alone, in a small yard.
Sarkozy also told Le Figaro, a right-leaning newspaper, that he will be taking with him a biography of Jesus and a copy of “The Count of Monte Cristo”, a novel in which an innocent man is sentenced to jail but escapes to take revenge.
Sarkozy conviction ‘has not made him a pariah’ among French right
One of Sarkozy’s sons, Louis, called for a rally on Tuesday morning in support of his father in the high-end Paris neighbourhood where the former French president lives.
“There are more police and journalists here than people [rallying] in support of Sarkozy,” said FRANCE 24 journalist, reporting from the scene.
“His conviction doesn’t seem to have made him a pariah, at least when it comes to the right or centre-right parties in France,” she added.
- Nicolas Sarkozy began his five-year prison term today, making him the first former French president in living memory to be incarcerated
- He is jailed at the La Santé prison in Paris, where he will be kept away from all other prisoners for security reasons
- France’s right-wing leader from 2007 to 2012, Sarkozy was handed his sentence in September for criminal conspiracy over a plan for late Libyan dictator Muammer Gaddafi to fund his electoral campaign
- A Paris judge ruled that Sarkozy would start to serve time without waiting for his appeal to be heard, due to “the seriousness of the disruption to public order caused by the offense”
- Sarkozy maintains his innocence
Sarkozy will serve his sentence in La Santé prison
La Santé prison in Paris in the past has housed leftist militant Carlos the Jackal and Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega.
Sarkozy will likely be held in the isolation unit, where inmates are housed in single cells and kept apart during outdoor activities for security reasons. Conditions are similar to the rest of the prison: cells measure 9 to 12 square metres and, following renovations, now include private showers.
Sarkozy will have access to a television – for a monthly fee of €14 ($16) – and a landline telephone.
Defiant former French president Sarkozy to begin five-year prison term
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will be put behind bars today, starting a five-year sentence for conspiring to raise campaign funds from Libya, in a stunning downfall for a leader once known for his swagger and taste for the global spotlight.
Sarkozy, who was the conservative president of France between 2007 and 2012, will become the first former French leader to be jailed since Nazi collaborator Marshal Philippe Petain after World War Two.
“I’m not afraid of prison. I’ll keep my head held high, including at the prison gates,” Sarkozy told La Tribune Dimanche newspaper ahead of his incarceration.
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