Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, convicted of conspiring to accept illicit funding from Libya for his 2007 election campaign, appears in court on Monday to find out when he must begin serving a five-year prison sentence. It is the first time in modern France's history that a former head of state will be sent behind bars.
Sarkozy, 70, was found guilty on 25 September of criminal conspiracy over a scheme to find funding from Libya's then leader Moamer Kadhafi for the presidential campaign that ultimately brought him to power.
Although he plans to appeal the verdict, a special court order means that he must start serving his sentence even before the case is retried.
Sarkozy, who was President of France between 2007 and 2012, could therefore be incarcerated as soon as this week.
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Isolation wing
At Monday's hearing, the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) will inform the former president both when he has to register as an inmate and which prison will hold him.
Due to Sarkozy's profile he is expected to end up in an isolation wing, most likely at at La Santé prison in southern Paris, which has a section reserved for public figures.
He will remain in detention while awaiting his appeal trial, which is set to begin within months.
Sarkozy told reporters after the guilty verdict: "I will assume my responsibilities, I will comply with court summonses, and if they absolutely want me to sleep in prison, I will sleep in prison but with my head held high".
A few weeks' grace
Sarkozy also railed against what he called a politically motivated judgment.
Jean-François Bohnert, head of PNF, rejected the charge. Bohnert told French broadcaster RTL: "We have no hatred to express. Our compass is the law – the rule of law".
Peimane Ghaleh-Marzban, president of the Paris judicial court, told France Inter radio that the decision to delay Sarkozy’s incarceration by a few weeks to get his affairs in order – sparing him handcuffs in the courtroom – showed the court had, if anything, exercised discretion.
"Many ordinary defendants go straight to prison even while appealing," he noted.
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Multiple convictions
The Paris court ruled that as minister and president of the UMP, a centre-right party, Sarkozy had allowed his close associates and supporters to approach the Libyan authorities to seek funding his 2007 campaign.
In exchange, prosecutors argued, Sarkozy helped ease Kadhafi back onto the international stage.
Sarkozy was cleared of benefitting from illicit funds. His campaign director and interior minister were also convicted of involvement in the scheme.
Prior to the Libya case, Sarkozy had been convicted in two separate trials, but had so far avoided prison.
In 2021 he became the first French president since World War II to be sentenced to jail when he received a one-year term for corruption. He served it at home with an electronic tag before being granted conditional release.
He was later convicted in the so-called Bygmalion affair over excessive spending during his failed 2012 re-election campaign.
An appeals court last year upheld the ruling but reduced his sentence to six months in prison and six months suspended. Sarkozy is still contesting that decision.
(with newswires)
