Two police officers have moved into the prison cell next door to former French president Nicolas Sarkozy after he received death threats, it emerged today.
The 70-year-old is said to have spent a “frightening” first night in La Santé, the high-security jail in Paris.
He arrived at the prison on Tuesday to begin a five-year sentence for conspiring to accept laundered cash from the late Libyan dictator, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
Within hours of his arrival, a video appeared online which showed a fellow inmate shouting: “We know everything, Sarko… we know everything. Give back the billions of dollars.”
On Wednesday, a source at France’s Interior Ministry confirmed they had ordered two officers from the VIP Protection Service, the SDLP, to occupy the “cell next door to the former president’s for 24 hours a day.”
🇫🇷⛓️ FLASH INFO
— Citizen Média 🗞️ (@CitizenMediaFR) October 21, 2025
INSOLITE
Un détenu de la prison de la Santé interpelle Sarkozy depuis sa cellule.
« On va venger Khadafi, on est au courant de tout, Sarko. Rends les milliards de dollars.. » pic.twitter.com/Spk6ITI8XB
This led to Éric Ciotti, president of Sarkozy’s conservative party, The Republicans, expressing his concerns about death threats.
Mr Ciotti said: “It is completely legitimate that the security of a former President of the Republic be ensured everywhere, at all times, in all locations.
“Especially since the threats against him will be much greater in the circles he finds himself in.
Read more: From pink diamonds to prison visits: Is Carla Bruni’s glamorous life in tatters?
“I saw images of him being threatened with death upon his arrival. His security must be guaranteed.
“This incarceration is a terrible ordeal for his family. I think of the ordeal they are going through.”
Carla Bruni, Sarkozy’s third wife, has already spoken to him in prison, via a cell landline, lawyers for Sarkozy confirmed, saying his first night was “frightening”.
Jean-Michel Darrois, representing Sarkozy, said: “I saw him in the visiting room, we stayed together for a long time.
“He is the man everyone knows – strong, dynamic, a fighter. He has brought two books to read: The Count of Monte Cristo (the novel by Alexandre Dumas) about revenge, and The Life of Jesus Christ, about the resurrection.”
The video also refers to Ziad Takieddine, a former Lebanese arms dealer who died in mysterious circumstances earlier this year while on the run from accusations that he was the middle man between Gaddafi and Sarkozy.
An unidentified inmate in La Santé can be heard shouting: “Sarko, he's right there, in an isolated area.
“He's all alone in his cell. He just arrived, Tuesday, October 20, 2025 – he's going to have a bad time.
“Right next to it, there's solitary confinement below—it's solitary confinement, he's just above.
“And we know everything – we're going to avenge Gaddafi. We know everything, Sarko, Ziad Takieddine, we know everything. Give back the billions of dollars.”
It was in 2011 that RAF and French Air Force jets led the mass bombing campaign that ended with Gaddafi being hacked to death by a mob.
David Cameron was UK Prime Minister at the time and visited Libya with Sarkozy.
There have been claims that Sarkozy wanted his old friend and ally dead because of his potential to produce incriminating evidence.
Sarkozy kissed former supermodel Carla Bruni goodbye outside their £5 milllion Paris town house on Tuesday morning before he was driven to La Santé.
He was checked into the notorious jail at 9.40am, as other inmates mocked him by chanting “Welcome Sarko!” and “Sarkozy’s here!”.
Sarkozy was found guilty of conspiring with close aides to orchestrate a scheme involving illegal cash from Gaddafi, but was acquitted of personally receiving or using the funds.
Former inmates at La Santé – which means Health – include notorious terrorists and armed robbers such as Carlos the Jackal (Illich Ramírez Sanchez) and armed robber Jacques Mesrine.
Sarkozy is now the first French head of state to go to be jailed since Marshall Philippe Pétain, the wartime Nazi collaborator.
Sarkozy will spend most of his time alone in a 29-foot-square cell equipped with a shower, a bed, a small desk, a landline phone, and a TV which will cost him the equivalent of £13 a month to watch.
He will be allowed one solitary walk a day alone in a small yard but will not have a mobile phone.
Sarkozy used to be Interior Minister in France, when his tough policies gained him the nickname “Le Top Cop”.
He once said that young offender “scum” on housing estates should be “blown away with a power hose”.
Such a background makes him an extremely vulnerable prisoner.
Christophe Ingrain, another Sarkozy lawyer, said the politician was appealing against his prison sentence but that it would be at least a month before it is heard.
Mr Ingrain said: “He is taking it upon himself to ensure that no one can feel the indignation and anger he feels at suffering this injustice. Humanly, this is an extremely difficult ordeal.”
Sarkozy has also been found guilty of trying to bribe a judge and illicit campaign funding following separate trials.
Carla Bruni is herself accused of being part of a £4 million campaign dubbed “Operation Save Sarko” – a complex and illegal plan to try to keep her husband out of jail.
She has been charged with a range of corruption offences, including “witness tampering in an organised gang” and could be imprisoned for up to 10 years if found guilty in a separate trial.
Like her husband, Ms Bruni denies any wrongdoing.
