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Nicolas Sarkozy’s imprisonment date will be set for the Monday after the former French The president was sentenced to five years in prison for criminal conspiracy in a scheme to finance his victorious 2007 campaign. Libya,
Sarkozy, 70, says he is innocent. He described the decision as “a scandal” and filed an appeal. He is the first former president of modern France to be sent behind bars for a real period of time.
Sarkozy, who was involved in several other legal matters, was President of France from 2007 to 2012. He has been retired from active politics for years, but remains very influential, especially in conservative circles.
Why is Sarkozy going to jail?
In a surprising decision, paris The court said the prison sentence, which would otherwise have been suspended on appeal, is effective immediately.
Sarkozy should be jailed without delay, the court explained, because of “the seriousness of the disturbance to public order caused by the crime”.
Nevertheless, Sarkozy was given 18 days after the verdict to “organize his professional life” before being called by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office to set an imprisonment date.
Sarkozy’s supporters criticized the verdict because Sarkozy is considered innocent under French law since he appealed.
Recently this debate has started again after the far right leader marine le pen In March he was sentenced to a five-year ban from running for public office for embezzling EU funds, effective immediately despite his appeal.
Sarkozy’s case does not stand out as an exception in the French judicial system. The Justice Ministry said that in 2024, 90% of adults convicted and sentenced to at least two years in prison will be immediately jailed.
What has Sarkozy been convicted of?
The court said Sarkozy used his position as presidential candidate and interior minister from 2005 to 2007 “to orchestrate corruption at the highest levels”, financing his presidential campaign with money from Libya – then led by longtime ruler Moammar Gaddafi.
The three-judge panel said Sarkozy’s closest associates, Claude Guiant and Brice Hortefex, held secret meetings with Gaddafi’s brother-in-law and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi in 2005, despite the fact that he was “convicted of terrorist acts committed against most French and European citizens.”
Al-Senoussi is believed to be the mastermind of the attacks on a Pan Am jumbo jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 and a French plane over Niger the following year – causing hundreds of deaths. A Paris court convicted him of the 1999 attack on French UTA Flight 772 and sentenced him in absentia to life imprisonment.
The court also said there was evidence that Sarkozy had supported meetings between Guéant, then his chief of staff, and an intermediary capable of providing secret financial arrangements.
Why do they say it’s a conspiracy
Sarkozy consistently maintained that he was innocent and the victim of a “conspiracy” perpetrated by certain individuals associated with the Libyan government, which he said included the “Gaddafi clan”.
He suggested that the campaign financing allegations were retaliation for his call for the removal of Gaddafi as President of France.
Sarkozy was one of the first Western leaders to push for military intervention in Libya in 2011, when pro-democracy protests in the Arab Spring swept the Arab world. Gaddafi was overthrown and killed in a rebellion that same year, ending his four-decade rule over the North African country.
Furthermore, Sarkozy insisted that the court acquit him of three other charges, including passive corruption, illegal campaign financing and concealment of embezzlement of public funds.
The court said there was no evidence that the money transferred from Libya to France was used in Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign and acknowledged that it was not used for his “direct personal enrichment”.
what comes next
For security reasons, Sarkozy is expected to be imprisoned under conditions reserved for high-profile prisoners, possibly in a special area dubbed the “VIP area” of La Sainte prison, the only prison located in Paris. It is here that some of France’s most notorious criminals have been imprisoned.
Once behind bars, Sarkozy will be able to file a release request with the appeals court. Judges will then have up to two months to act on the request.
The appeal hearing is scheduled for a later date, possibly next spring.
French business owner Pierre Botton, who is a friend of Sarkozy, spent nearly four years in prison in two separate cases, including time from 2020 to 2022 in La Santé.
Speaking on the France Info news broadcaster after the verdict, he described the imprisonment as a “violent” blow to anyone.
He said Sarkozy would likely spend a week being “assessed” in the arrivals area and then be transferred to a so-called “zone for vulnerable persons” for security reasons.
Botton said Sarkozy would likely be alone in the prison cell, which is equipped with a shower, toilet, small heating element, a fridge and a television. He will have access to a special phone that he will have to pay to use, Boughton said.