Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy entered a Paris prison on Tuesday on the first day of his five-year sentence, becoming the first modern French former leader to spend time behind bars.
Sarkozy was driven to the prison complex on Tuesday morning, waving to supporters as he left his home.
His car was surrounded by dozens of motorcycles and police cars as it headed for La Santé prison in the south of Paris.
Sarkozy was sentenced last month to five years in prison on criminal conspiracy charges for his role in a scheme to finance the 2007 presidential election with money from Libya in exchange for diplomatic favors.
The former president, who left office in 2012, has appealed his conviction and is expected to remain in solitary confinement or a cell in the so-called “VIP wing” of the La Santé prison complex.
This wing is typically reserved for prisoners who are considered unsuitable to be part of the prison’s general population due to safety concerns.
They could be politicians, former police officers, members of far-right organizations or people with ties to Islamist terrorist organizations, CNN affiliate BFMTV reported.
The cells in the wing are equipped with metal beds and mattresses, small desks, refrigerators, cooking stoves, televisions, showers, toilets, sinks, and landline telephone lines that prisoners can call at specific authorized numbers.
Previous prisoners include Panama’s former dictator Manuel Noriega, who was exiled during the American invasion and was held in Panama after being extradited from the United States.
Venezuelan terrorist Ilic Ramírez Sánchez, also known as “Carlos the Jackal,” spent time in prison, as did notorious 1970s murderer and bank robber Jacques Mesurine. Jacques Mesurine’s criminal career was portrayed in the 2008 film starring Vincent Cassel.
According to French public broadcaster France Info, Mesurine famously escaped from La Santé with fellow criminal François Bess while posing as a prison guard.
Marco Mouly, a former inmate of the prison’s VIP wing, told BFMTV in a 2022 documentary that the prison was “okay”, comparing it to a popular budget hotel chain in Europe.
Another former prisoner, Didier Schuller, told BFMTV: “The problem is the noise… At night I wake up to people screaming.”
In a statement posted to X shortly after the car carrying him left for prison, Sarkozy insisted he was an “innocent person”.
“As I am about to step inside the walls of La Santé prison, I am thinking of the French people of all walks of life and opinions,” he said.
“I want to say with unwavering force that the person in prison this morning is not a former president of the republic, but an innocent man,” he continued.
The former leader said he would “continue to condemn this judicial scandal,” but added, “My wife and children are by my side, and I have countless friends, so I have no sympathy for him.”
But on Tuesday morning, Sarkozy said he felt “deep sadness for France, which has been humiliated by expressions of revenge that have escalated hatred to an unprecedented level.”
Sarkozy’s legal team is seeking his early release, Christophe Inglein, one of his lawyers, told BFMTV on Tuesday morning. The court has two months to decide whether to grant the request.
This article has been updated with developments to reveal that Mr. Sarkozy has appealed his conviction.
