Sarkozy Enters Jail Over Libyan Funding of 2007 Campaign: France’s First Ex-President Behind Bars
PARIS – Former french President Nicolas Sarkozy has begun his jail sentence after losing his final appeal in a case involving illicit campaign financing. He arrived at La Santé prison today, becoming the first ex-president in France’s modern history to be incarcerated.
Sarkozy was convicted of criminal association related to a scheme to fund his 2007 presidential campaign with millions of euros from Libya. While he was cleared of personally receiving the funds, the court found him guilty of involvement through two close aides: Brice Hortefeux adn Claude Guéant.
Evidence presented during the trial revealed that Hortefeux and guéant held meetings in 2005 with Muammar Gaddafi’s intelligence chief and brother-in-law. These meetings were arranged by Franco-Lebanese intermediary Ziad Tiakeddine, who died in Lebanon shortly before Sarkozy’s conviction.
Despite maintaining his innocence throughout the proceedings, Sarkozy was ordered to serve his sentence promptly due to the “extraordinary seriousness of the facts,” even while lodging an appeal.
“I’m not afraid of prison. I’ll keep my head held high, including at the prison gates,” Sarkozy told La Tribune in a series of interviews prior to his imprisonment.
The former president indicated he would be spending his time in jail reading, selecting a biography of Jesus and Alexandre Dumas’ the count of Monte Cristo – a novel about wrongful imprisonment and revenge – as his companions.
