Sarkozy enters jail over marketing campaign financing

[ad_1] Paul Kirby Europe digital editor and

Hugh Schofield in Paris

Watch: Sarkozy was cheered by supporters as he embraced his spouse Carla Bruni-Sarkozy outdoors their Paris house

Nicolas Sarkozy has develop into the primary French ex-president to go to jail, as he begins a five-year sentence for conspiring to fund his election marketing campaign with cash from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Not since World Struggle Two Nazi collaborationist chief Philippe Pétain was jailed for treason in 1945 has any French ex-leader gone behind bars.

Sarkozy, who was president from 2007-2012, has appealed towards his jail time period at La Santé jail, the place he's will occupy a cell roughly measuring 9 sq m (95 sq ft) within the jail's isolation wing.

Greater than 100 individuals stood outdoors his villa within the unique sixteenth district of Paris, after his son Louis, 28, known as on supporters for a present of assist.

One other son, Pierre, known as for a message of affection - "nothing else, please".

Nicolas Sarkozy, 70, arrived on the entrance to the infamous Nineteenth-Century jail within the Montparnasse district south of the River Seine at 09:40 (07:40 GMT), amid excessive safety.

He continues to protest his innocence within the extremely controversial Libyan cash affair and posted a message on X as he was pushed to the jail, saying "I've little doubt. Reality will prevail. However how crushing the worth can have been".

"With unwavering power I inform [the French people] it isn't a former president they're locking up this morning - it's an harmless man," he wrote. "Don't really feel sorry for me as a result of my spouse and my kids are by my facet... however this morning I really feel deep sorrow for a France humiliated by a will for revenge."

Sarkozy has stated he desires no particular remedy at La Santé jail, though he has been put within the isolation part for his personal security as different inmates are notorious medication sellers or have been convicted for terror offences.

Aside from Philippe Pétain, the one different former French head of state to have been jailed was King Louis XVI earlier than his execution in January 1793.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/bcfb/live/dd525d10-ae4e-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/bcfb/live/dd525d10-ae4e-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/bcfb/live/dd525d10-ae4e-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/bcfb/live/dd525d10-ae4e-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/bcfb/live/dd525d10-ae4e-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/bcfb/live/dd525d10-ae4e-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/bcfb/live/dd525d10-ae4e-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/bcfb/live/dd525d10-ae4e-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Reuters Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy leaves his house with his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy on the day of his incarceration at the Sante prison to begin his five-year prison sentence for criminal conspiracy over attempts to raise campaign funds from Libya, in Paris, France, October 21, 2025." class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> Reuters Nicolas Sarkozy has maintained his innocence and has lodged an attraction

Inside his cell he can have a bathroom, bathe, desk and small TV. He shall be allowed one hour a day for train, by himself.

On the finish of final week he was acquired on the Élysée Palace by President Emmanuel Macron, who informed reporters on Monday "it was regular that on a human degree I ought to obtain certainly one of my predecessors in that context".

In an additional measure of official assist for the ex-president, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin stated he would go to go to him in jail as a part of his function in making certain Sarkozy's security and the right functioning of the jail.

"I can't be insensitive to a person's misery," he added.

Forward of his arrival at La Santé jail, Sarkozy gave a collection of media interviews, telling La Tribune: "I am not afraid of jail. I will maintain my head held excessive, together with on the jail gates."

Sarkozy has all the time denied doing something improper in a case involving allegations that his 2007 presidential marketing campaign was funded by thousands and thousands of euros in Libyan money.

The previous centre-right chief was cleared of personally receiving the cash however convicted of prison affiliation with two shut aides, Brice Hortefeux and Claude Guéant, for his or her function in secret marketing campaign financing from the Libyans.

The 2 males each had talks with Gadaffi's intelligence chief and brother-in-law in 2005, in a gathering organized by a Franco-Lebanese middleman known as Ziad Tiakeddine, who died in Lebanon shortly earlier than Sarkozy's conviction.

As he lodged an attraction, Sarkozy continues to be thought-about harmless however he has been informed he should go to jail in view of the "distinctive seriousness of the information".

Sarkozy stated he would take two books with him into jail, a lifetime of Jesus and the Depend of Monte Christo, the story of a person wrongly imprisoned who escapes to wreak vengeance on his prosecutors.