THE GUARDIAN: Former president organised stage-managed departure from his Paris home before becaming first French postwar leader to be jailed
The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has entered a prison in Paris, after a court sentenced him to five years for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to obtain election campaign funds from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
France’s rightwing president between 2007 and 2012 is the first former head of an EU country to serve time in prison, and the first French postwar leader to be jailed.
Sarkozy, who has appealed against his conviction, had sought to avoid being photographed at the gates of La Santé prison in the south of Paris. Instead, he organised a highly stage-managed departure from his home in the west of the capital where he walked with his wife, the singer Carla Bruni, to greet crowds gathered in the street outside. » | Angelique Chrisafis in Paris | Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Frankreichs Ex-Präsident Sarkozy geht heute in Gefängnis: Was über die Bedingungen bekannt ist: Für mehrere Jahre muss Nicolas Sarkozy ins Gefängnis. Damit wird er der erste französische Staatschef der Nachkriegszeit und erste Ex-Präsident eines EU-Landes, der hinter Gitter kommt. »
