The former President of the French Republic arrived in the Parisian Santè prison following his conviction linked to the Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign. The former Head of State left his Parisian home in the morning, and together with his partner, Carla Bruni, greeted around a hundred of his supporters who chanted his name and sang the Marseillaise. On the way to prison Sarkozy wrote a post on X proclaiming himself ‘innocent’. “It is not a former President of the Republic who is arrested this morning, he is an innocent man”, he wrote, denouncing a “judicial scandal”.
A massive presence of security forces was deployed in front of the Santè prison, in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. Sarkozy arrived by car together with his lawyer, who has already announced his intention to “quickly” present a request for release. The court will have two months to rule, although its decision is expected to come sooner. “As I prepare to cross the walls of the Maison de la Santè prison, my thoughts turn to the French people,” Sarkozy wrote on social media. «I want to tell them with the unshakable strength that is characteristic of me that it is not a former President of the Republic who is locked up this morning, but an innocent man. I will continue to denounce this judicial scandal, this via crucis that I have suffered for more than 10 years,” he wrote. “The truth will triumph,” but “the price to pay will be overwhelming,” he added.
The detention of the former French president comes almost a month after his conviction for criminal conspiracy in the case of suspected Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign. It is the first time in history that a former President of the Republic has been jailed.
At the family’s request, around a hundred people gathered since dawn near Sarkozy’s home, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, to show their support for the former president. Massive presence of reporters, cameras and photographers. Sarkozy left his home on foot, accompanied hand in hand by his wife Carla Bruni, amidst the applause of those present, who had sung the Marseillaise a few minutes earlier. The former president went over to greet the crowd, but did not say any words to those present or to journalists.
Last September 25, the Paris Criminal Court sentenced the former president to five years in prison. Sarkozy was found guilty of knowingly allowing his colleagues Claude Guéant and Brice Hortefeux to meet in Tripoli with a senior official of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime to discuss the secret financing of his 2007 presidential campaign.