Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will begin serving a five-year prison sentence on 21 October for criminal conspiracy over alleged illegal funding of his 2007 election campaign by Libya, French media reported on Monday.
The 70-year-old will be held at La Santé prison in Paris, sources close to the case told the French news agency AFP.
Sarkozy learned the details of his detention during a short meeting at the financial prosecutor’s office earlier in the day.
An AFP journalist saw him arrive in a car with tinted windows and leave about 45 minutes later without making any comment. He was later seen returning home.
Sarkozy denies wrongdoing and has appealed against his conviction. A new trial is expected in the coming months, but he must begin serving his sentence while the appeal is pending.
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First postwar leader jailed
Sarkozy will be the first French postwar head of state – and the first former leader of a European Union country – to serve time behind bars.
Extra security measures are expected to protect him, with the former president likely to be placed either in a unit for vulnerable inmates or in solitary confinement.
Sarkozy, who led France from 2007 to 2012, was found guilty in late September of criminal conspiracy. Judges ruled that he and his aides sought campaign funds from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi for his successful 2007 presidential bid.
“The offences were of exceptional gravity,” said presiding judge Nathalie Gavarino in the ruling.
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Secret deal with Gaddafi
Prosecutors said Sarkozy’s team struck a secret deal with Gaddafi in 2005 to secure illegal financing. Investigators believe that in return, Gaddafi was promised help in restoring his international image after Libya was accused of involvement in deadly plane bombings over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 and over Niger in 1989.
The court found Sarkozy guilty of criminal conspiracy but cleared him of other charges, including embezzling Libyan public funds, passive corruption and illicit campaign financing.
Sarkozy has called the verdict “a scandal” and insists he never took money from Gaddafi’s regime.
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Third fraud conviction
It is the third time Sarkozy has been convicted on fraud-related charges. In 2021, France’s top court upheld his conviction and one-year sentence for trying to bribe a judge in 2014. He served part of that term under house arrest with an electronic tag.
He was also given a one-year jail term – six months in prison and six months suspended – for illegal financing of his 2012 re-election campaign. That case is under final appeal, with a ruling expected late next month.
Despite his legal troubles, Sarkozy remains influential on the French right and is known to keep in regular contact with President Emmanuel Macron.
