France's ex-president Sarkozy goes to jail

France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy (C-L) arrives for the verdict in his appeal trial in the so-called Bygmalion case, at the courthouse, in Paris, on February 14, 2024. [AFP] France's ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy is to be jailed on Tuesday over a scheme to acquire Libyan funding for his 2007 presidential run, becoming the first former head of an EU country to serve time behind bars. Sarkozy, France's right-wing leader from 2007 to 2012, was convicted in late September of criminal conspiracy over a plan for late Libyan dictator Muammar Kadhafi to fund his electoral campaign. The former state leader, who has appealed the verdict and denounced an "injustice", is to be incarcerated in the Parisian prison La Sante. "If they absolutely want me to sleep in prison, I will sleep in prison -- but with my head held high," he told the press after his September 25 verdict. Sarkozy is to be the first French leader to be incarcerated since Philippe Petain, the Nazi collaborationist head of state of France's Vichy regime, who was jailed after World War II. He is likely to be held in one of the cells of nine square metres (95 square feet) in the prison's solitary confinement wing, prison staff have told AFP. This would avoid Sarkozy having to interact with other prisoners or them taking pictures of him with one of the many mobile phones that are smuggled inside, they said, requesting anonymity because they are not allowed to talk to the press. - 'Exceptional gravity' - It is unclear how long Sarkozy will remain in jail. Presiding judge Nathalie Gavarino said during Sarkozy's sentencing that the offences were of "exceptional gravity", and therefore ordered him to be incarcerated even if he filed an appeal. But Sarkozy's lawyers are expected to request his release as soon as he sets foot inside the jail, and the appeals trial has two months to examine it. In theory, the court can decide against letting the former president out of prison if, for example, it deems it the only way to prevent evidence tampering or witness intimidation. If not, it could order his release under judicial supervision or home arrest with an ankle tag. Until the court makes a decision, Sarkozy is expected to spend a considerable amount of time alone. Under solitary confinement, prisoners are allowed out of their cells for one walk a day, alone, in a yard of several square metres. - Legal troubles - Sarkozy has faced a flurry of legal woes since losing re-election in 2012. He has also been convicted in two separate trials. In one, he served a graft sentence for trying to extract favours from a judge with an electronic ankle tag, which was removed after several months in May. In the so-called "Libyan case" that ended in a prison sentence, prosecutors argued that his aides, acting with his authority and in his name, struck a deal with Kadhafi in 2005 to illegally fund his victorious presidential election bid two years later. Investigators believe that in return, Kadhafi was promised help to restore his international image after Tripoli was blamed by the West for bombing a plane in 1988 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and another over Niger in 1989, killing hundreds of passengers. But the court's ruling did not follow the prosecutors' conclusion that Sarkozy received or used the funds for his campaign. It acquitted him on separate charges of embezzling Libyan public funds, passive corruption and illicit financing of an electoral campaign. - 'Come and show support' - Sarkozy was stripped of France's highest distinction, his Legion of Honour, following the graft conviction. Six out of ten people living in France believe the latest prison sentence to be "fair", according to a survey of more than 1,000 adults conducted by pollster Elabe. But Sarkozy still enjoys some popularity on the French right. His son, Louis Sarkozy, who writes for a far-right newspaper and is running for mayor in southern France, on Saturday called for people to "come and show support" for his father outside his home on Tuesday morning. The presiding judge in the conspiracy trial received death threats after her verdict last month, prompting President Emmanuel Macron to publicly call out such attacks as "unacceptable". Other famous people held at La Sante over the years include Venezuelan militant Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, also known as Carlos the Jackal, who has since been moved. More recently, French model agent Jean-Luc Brunel, a close associate of convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was found dead in his cell at La Sante in 2022. He had been charged with the rape of minors.

France's ex-president Sarkozy goes to jail

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