Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will have two police officers stationed in nearby cells throughout his incarceration at La Santé prison in Paris, the interior minister has confirmed. Sarkozy began a five-year sentence on Tuesday for conspiring to raise campaign funds from Libya.
Interior minister Laurent Nuñez told Europe 1 radio that the officers, part of a security detail protecting former presidents, would be present permanently due to threats against Sarkozy. “The former president of the republic is entitled to protection because of his status,” Nuñez said, adding that protection would remain “as long as it is necessary”.
Sarkozy is being held in the prison’s isolation unit, where inmates are kept in single cells and separated during outdoor activities, minimising contact with other prisoners. The police officers will work in rotating shifts.
Prison guard unions have protested the arrangement. Nicolas Peyrin of the CGT union told BFM television that staff were capable of ensuring safety and that police presence added no value. Wilfried Fonck, head of another union, told RTL radio: “Today we have two civilians inside a prison who shouldn’t be there… I’ve never seen anything like it in 25 years on the job.”
Sarkozy’s lawyers have filed for early release pending an appeal, hoping for a decision within a month. Sarkozy denies wrongdoing and calls the case politically motivated.
