PARIS (AP) — Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy heads to jail Tuesday to serve time for a prison conspiracy to finance his 2007 election marketing campaign with funds from Libya.
The primary ex-leader of contemporary France to be imprisoned, Sarkozy contests each the conviction and a decide’s uncommon resolution to incarcerate him pending attraction. His journey from the presidential Elysée Palace to the infamous La Santé jail in Paris has captivated France.
One in every of Sarkozy’s sons, Louis, referred to as for a rally Tuesday morning in assist of his father within the high-end Paris neighborhood the place Sarkozy lives together with his spouse, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. The supermodel-turned-singer has shared photographs of Sarkozy’s youngsters and songs in his honor on her social media feeds since his conviction.
Embattled centrist President Emmanuel Macron hosted the conservative Sarkozy on the presidential palace final week. ‘’I’ve at all times been very clear in my public statements concerning the independence of the judiciary in my function, nevertheless it was regular on a human stage to obtain considered one of my predecessors on this context,” Macron mentioned Monday.
Sarkozy advised Le Figaro newspaper that he expects to be held in solitary confinement, the place he could be refrained from all different prisoners for safety causes. One other risk is that he’s held within the jail’s part for “susceptible″ inmates, colloquially often called the VIP part.
“I’m not afraid of jail. I’ll maintain my head excessive, together with in entrance of the doorways of La Santé,” Sarkozy advised La Tribune Dimanche newspaper. “I’ll struggle until the top.”
La Tribune Dimanche stories Sarkozy has his jail bag prepared with garments and the ten household photographs he’s allowed to convey.
Sarkozy additionally advised Le Figaro newspaper he would convey three books — the utmost allowed — together with Alexandre Dumas’ “The Depend of Monte Cristo,” whose hero escapes from an island jail earlier than searching for revenge.
The Paris decide dominated that Sarkozy would begin to serve jail time with out ready for his attraction to be heard, because of “the seriousness of the disruption to public order attributable to the offense.”
Underneath the ruling, the 70-year-old Sarkozy will solely have the ability to file a request for launch to the appeals courtroom as soon as he’s behind bars, and judges will then have as much as two months to course of the request.
