Ex-French president Sarkozy to start 5-year prison term next week

Nicolas Sarkozy will be the first French post-war leader and the first former head of an EU country to go to jail.

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Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will serve jail time at a Paris prison from Oct 21, informed sources told AFP on Oct 13, after a court in September sentenced him to five years behind bars for criminal conspiracy.

The 70-year-old, who will be the first French postwar leader and the first former head of a European Union country to go to jail, will serve time at La Sante Prison in Paris, they said.

Sarkozy, France’s leader from 2007 to 2012, was convicted in late September over a scheme for late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to fund his 2007 presidential run.

Extra security measures are expected to ensure his safety in prison, with Sarkozy possibly placed in a unit for vulnerable prisoners or held in solitary confinement.

Earlier on Oct 13, he arrived at the financial prosecutor’s office in Paris to learn the details of his upcoming incarceration.

He arrived in a car with tinted windows, then left again 45 minutes later without making a comment, AFP journalists saw.