A Paris appeals court ordered the release of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy from La Santé prison on Monday, three weeks into a five-year sentence, and placed him under judicial supervision.
Sarkozy left the prison later that day. He had appeared earlier by video from La Santé, calling his incarceration a “nightmare” as judges considered his request to be freed while his appeal proceeds after a criminal conspiracy conviction.
The conviction stems from a lower court ruling in September that found Sarkozy guilty of attempting to obtain financing from Moammar Gadhafi’s Libya ahead of his successful 2007 presidential campaign. The court did not determine that he actually received or spent Libyan cash on that campaign but convicted him over the alleged plan to secure such funding.
Sarkozy entered La Santé on October 21, becoming the first former head of an EU member state to be jailed; his lawyers immediately sought his release pending appeal. Known in French media as the “Libyan case,” the allegations first surfaced in 2011 when a Libyan outlet reported on campaign financing and resurfaced in 2016 after businessman Ziad Takieddine said he had delivered suitcases of cash from Libyan officials to the French Interior Ministry.
On the video call the 70-year-old appeared in a dark blue jacket and was accompanied by lawyers. “It’s hard, very hard, certainly for any prisoner. I would even say it’s grueling,” he told the court, adding that prison staff had helped make “this nightmare… bearable.”
Prosecutor Damien Brunet backed the request for provisional release, saying that concerns about collusion and pressure on witnesses meant Sarkozy could be freed under judicial supervision rather than kept behind bars.
Sarkozy attended court with his wife, singer and model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and two of his sons. Edited by: Wesley Rahn