The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy He is awaiting the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal on his request for release, submitted twenty days after his admission to La Santé prison.
The inmate’s defense has demanded that the procedure be resolved this Monday and that the ruling can be applied immediately in the event of a favorable result. He maintains, in turn, that there are no legal reasons that justify preventive detention. The reason? That your client does not pose a risk of escape or destruction of evidence and has sufficient institutional protection.
It is worth remembering that Sarkozy is serving a five-year sentence for having allowed his entourage to seek funds from the dictator’s regime. Muammar Gaddafi to finance the presidential campaign that took him to the Elysée in 2007. The ruling established that the admission had to be executed without waiting for the appeal due to the seriousness of the matter.
The politician has denied any irregularity from the first moment and maintains that it is a process only driven by partisan interests. The next trial is scheduled for March 2026.
The conviction has caused a lot of commotion, naturally, due to the impression of seeing a former president behind bars. His situation is also exceptional due to the security regime deployed around him. Two armed agents belonging to the team in charge of protecting the former heads of state occupy cells next to theirs in order to guarantee their integrity.
The Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñezjustified this presence by ensuring that there is “a threat” against the former leader and that protection will be maintained as long as necessary.
This measure has sparked protests among prison officials’ unions. The representative of CGT, Nicolas Peyrinhas pointed out that surveillance “does not provide added value” and that the center’s workers can guarantee security without police reinforcements. Hugo Vitrya member of the Force Ouvrière headquarters, criticized the fact that the guards had not been previously informed of these changes and demanded explanations from the Ministry of Justice.
Concerns for his safety intensified after the release of a video recorded inside La Santé in which a prisoner makes threats against Sarkozy. The Paris Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation and questioned three inmates in relation to this incident after which two mobile phones were seized.
In parallel, the former president faces another case related to the irregular financing of his campaign for re-election in 2012. The one-year prison sentence, reduced to six months on appeal, will be reviewed by the Supreme Court on November 26.
The confinement has also affected his daily life. According to the journalist Charles Sapinin a column published by the French weekly The PointSarkozy has been eating only yogurt since he entered prison for fear that other inmates would tamper with the food he receives in his cell.
His relatives admit, according to the article, that he did not want to resort to buying and preparing food at the commissary because “he doesn’t even know how to boil an egg.”
If his request for freedom is successful, Sarkozy would be subject to a regime of judicial control, possibly with an electronic bracelet, as already happened between February and May of last year due to a firm conviction of corruption and influence peddling. Until the ruling arrives, he will remain confined in the isolation unit.