France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy is set to begin his prison sentence on Tuesday, October 21, after being convicted of criminal conspiracy over alleged Libyan funding for his 2007 presidential campaign — making him the first ex-leader of an EU country to serve jail time.
Sarkozy, who governed France from 2007 to 2012, was found guilty in late September for his role in a scheme linked to the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, which prosecutors say illegally financed his election victory. The 69-year-old, who has repeatedly called the ruling an “injustice,” has appealed the verdict but will still begin serving his sentence at Paris’s La Santé Prison.
“If they absolutely want me to sleep in prison, I will sleep in prison, but with my head held high,” Sarkozy said after the September 25 ruling.
He will be the first French head of state to be jailed since Philippe Pétain, who led the Nazi collaborationist Vichy regime during World War II. According to AFP, Sarkozy is expected to be placed in a nine-square-metre solitary confinement cell to prevent contact with other inmates or unauthorised photographs.
While the length of his imprisonment remains unclear, presiding judge Nathalie Gavarino described his crimes as being of “exceptional gravity,” ordering his detention despite the appeal. Sarkozy’s legal team is expected to request his release immediately upon arrival, with the appeals court given two months to decide whether he will remain in prison, be placed under judicial supervision, or move to house arrest with an ankle tag.
Until then, he will likely remain isolated, permitted only brief daily walks in a small courtyard.
The conviction marks the latest in a string of legal troubles for Sarkozy since leaving office in 2012. He has already been convicted twice — including for corruption in a separate case where he tried to obtain confidential judicial information — and previously served part of that sentence under house arrest with an electronic monitor.
In the so-called “Libyan case,” prosecutors alleged that Sarkozy’s allies negotiated a secret funding deal with Gaddafi’s regime in 2005 to support his 2007 campaign in exchange for restoring Gaddafi’s global legitimacy. The court, however, did not find that Sarkozy personally received or used any Libyan funds, acquitting him of embezzlement, passive corruption, and illegal campaign financing.
Following his earlier corruption conviction, Sarkozy was stripped of the Legion of Honour — France’s highest distinction. Still, he maintains a loyal following among conservatives. A recent Elabe poll found that 60% of French citizens consider his latest sentence “fair.”
His son, Louis Sarkozy, has urged supporters to gather outside his father’s home on Tuesday morning in solidarity. Meanwhile, Judge Gavarino has received death threats since delivering the verdict, prompting President Emmanuel Macron to denounce the intimidation as “unacceptable.”
La Santé Prison, where Sarkozy will serve his time, has housed several high-profile inmates, including Venezuelan militant “Carlos the Jackal” and French model agent Jean-Luc Brunel, who was found dead there in 2022 while awaiting trial for the rape of minors.
