Former president Nicolas Sarkozy was imprisoned in La Santé prison in Paris after being found guilty of illegally financing his campaign.
Nicolas Sarkozyformer president of France between 2007 and 2012, He began a five-year prison sentence this Tuesday for conspiring to raise campaign funds since Libya. At 70 years old, the former president was seen leaving his house with his wife Carla Bruni, while a crowd of supporters cheered him, shouting “Nicolas, Nicolas,” and intoned The Marseillaise (anthem of France).
Sarkozy was taken by car to the Parisian La Santé prison, where he will remain in an isolation unit. Thus it becomes the first former French president imprisoned since Marshal Philippe Pétainafter the Second World War.
What Sarkozy said before entering prison
Minutes before entering the prison, Sarkozy published an extensive message on “He is an innocent man.”
The former president was convicted of conspiring with close collaborators to orchestrate the entry of millions of dollars from Muammar Gaddafi’s Libyan regime into his 2007 presidential campaign. However, was acquitted of personally receiving or using the money.
Sarkozy always denied the accusations and described them as “politically motivated”. His lawyers filed a request for early releasewhich they hope will be reviewed before Christmas.
You will remain in an individual cell between 9 and 12 square meterswith private shower, television and landline telephone.
The former president assured the newspaper Le Figaro that he will carry three books, including The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, a story about a man unjustly imprisoned who seeks revenge.
Political repercussions in France
The president Emmanuel Macron, close to Sarkozy and Bruni, revealed having met with him before his entry into prisonwhile the Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, announced that he will visit him. The decision was criticized by sectors of the left, who denounced a violation of judicial independence.
The case marks a change in the treatment of white collar crimes. During the 1990s and 2000s, convicted politicians often avoided prison. Today, French justice seeks to send a message of equality before the law.
The son of a Hungarian immigrant, Sarkozy came to power promising modernize the economy and position France as a global power. However, his legacy was overshadowed by the 2008 financial crisis and, now, by a conviction that ends one of the most influential careers in recent French politics.
Source: Ambito
