Nicolas Sarkozy is in Prison
Former President Nicolas Sarkozy was incarcerated on Tuesday at the Parisian Santé prison, nearly a month after his conviction for conspiracy to commit crimes in the Libyan trial, marking an unprecedented detention in the history of the Republic.
He has submitted a request for release, according to his lawyers, who labeled his incarceration as a "shame."
Upon entering the only Paris prison, he was greeted by shouts from his fellow inmates from their cells: "Oh welcome Sarkozy!", "There’s Sarkozy!"
Brazilian Lula and South African Jacob Zuma have spent time in prison after leaving office. However, this has never happened to any former head of state from the European Union.
Before getting into the car that took him to prison, followed by a swarm of cameras and photographers on motorcycles, Nicolas Sarkozy, accompanied by his wife Carla Bruni, greeted a few dozen of his supporters who had come to see him: "Free Nicolas!", "Nicolas! Nicolas!", chanted the crowd.
"The truth will prevail. But the price to pay will be overwhelming..." the former president wrote on his social media just before his incarceration. "He is an innocent man that they are locking up," he emphasized.
Moved to tears among the supporters of the former president, François, 66, who refused to give his last name, denounced a "political trial." "We are in the Soviet Union!" protested another demonstrator, while two French flags were hung on a gate and the "Marseillaise" was sung sporadically.
- "Three weeks, a month" -
Will Nicolas Sarkozy, 70, receive exemptions or special detention conditions considering his status?
And most importantly, how many nights will he spend in his individual cell in the isolation unit, which is best suited to ensure his safety?
For the former head of state’s request for release, the justice system has two months to decide, although the timeframe should be shorter.
"Whatever happens," it will be "three weeks, a month of detention," estimated his lawyer Christophe Ingrain on Europe 1.
On September 25, the Paris correctional court sentenced the former president to five years in prison.
He was found guilty of knowingly allowing his associates to meet with a dignitary of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in Tripoli to discuss illicit financing of his 2007 presidential campaign. Nicolas Sarkozy has appealed and maintains his innocence.
- "Undermine trust" -
More than this conviction, the detention order has caused astonishment. For the judges, it is justified by the "exceptional gravity" of acts "capable of undermining citizens' trust."
Nicolas Sarkozy has condemned an "injustice" and the "hatred" pursued by some magistrates. He also compared himself to Alfred Dreyfus, the officer sent to Devil’s Island for treason based on a false document and rampant anti-Semitism.
He revealed that he would enter Santé "with his head held high" and equipped with a biography of Jesus and the novel "The Count of Monte Cristo," a man who seeks revenge after an unjust conviction. He is also expected to write a "book about the experience he is living today," according to Me Ingrain.
A former guiding figure of the French right, still regularly consulted by its leaders, Nicolas Sarkozy has received support from his camp, quick to express outrage at the detention order targeting their favorite.
Typically issued by correctional courts, though less often in economic and financial cases, this detention order would violate the presumption of innocence, as it leads to detention without recourse and without waiting for the appeal trial.
However, this incarceration was deemed "just" by a majority of respondents (61%) in a poll conducted a few days after the conviction.
- "Independence of magistrates" -
Even though Nicolas Sarkozy's incarceration was based on a measure voted in 2019 at the initiative of his majority, Emmanuel Macron raised this point on X, stating that "in our rule of law, the presumption of innocence and the right to appeal must always be preserved."
On Friday, he met with Nicolas Sarkozy, considering this gesture "normal," "on a human level." A meeting that the head of the PS, Olivier Faure, deemed as "pressure on the justice system."
As for the Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, he defended his intention to visit Nicolas Sarkozy in prison on Tuesday, stating it was part of his "duty of vigilance" to "ensure the safety of the former head of state."
This, he said, "in no way affects the independence of the magistrates."
The minister was responding to France’s top prosecutor, Rémy Heitz, who suggested that such a visit could pose an "obstacle to serenity" and risk undermining "the independence of magistrates."