Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been ordered to report to La Santé prison in Paris on 21 October to begin a five-year sentence for criminal conspiracy. The conviction stems from a scheme to obtain election campaign funds from the regime of late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Sarkozy, 70, was summoned by state prosecutors on Monday and told he must present himself at the prison entrance next week.
Sarkozy becomes the first postwar French leader and the first former head of a European Union country to be imprisoned. He had already made history as the first former French head of state forced to wear an electronic tag, following a separate corruption conviction. In that case, he served a one-year term with an ankle monitor for three months before conditional release.
The former president has denied wrongdoing and appealed the conviction, with a new trial expected in about six months. However, the nature of his sentence requires him to begin serving time while the appeal proceeds. Sarkozy reportedly hosted a farewell party for 100 friends last week, telling guests he was innocent and would ask for no advantages in prison.
At La Santé, Sarkozy is expected to have an individual cell in a special wing for vulnerable prisoners, sometimes called the VIP wing. He will have one hour of exercise daily and three visits per week. The prison has held famous inmates including terrorist Carlos the Jackal and war criminal Maurice Papon.
Sarkozy was found guilty of criminal conspiracy but acquitted of three other charges: corruption, misuse of Libyan public funds, and illegal election campaign funding. The public prosecutor described the case as a 'Faustian pact of corruption' with Gaddafi. After the verdict, Sarkozy stated, 'If they absolutely want me to sleep in jail, I will sleep in jail, but with my head held high.' He may petition for release, but a decision could take two months.
