Sarkozy informed of when and where to report to prison for Libya campaign finance scheme

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PARIS (AP) — France’s financial prosecution office informed former French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday which prison to report to and when, pending his appeal after being sentenced to five years for criminal conspiracy involving the use of funds from Libya to finance his winning 2007 campaign. The details were not immediately made public.

Sarkozy, the first ex-president in modern French history to be imprisoned, has maintained his innocence and has protested the decision to be put behind bars while waiting for the result of his appeal. Once jailed, the 70-year-old will be able to file a release request to the appeals court. Judges will then have up to two months to process the request.

The National Financial Prosecutor’s office, or PNF, told Sarkozy the specifics of his detention during a brief formal meeting on Monday afternoon. Sarkozy left the courthouse shortly afterward.

Before the hearing, Bérénice Dinh, the PNF’s general secretary and spokesperson, said Sarkozy would be told “the date, the place and the hour he has to be there.”

The PNF also said he would not be going to prison on Monday and that it would not make that information public, to spare Sarkozy the ordeal of being filmed at the start of his detention.

While long retired from active politics, Sarkozy remains an influential figure in conservative circles. He served as president from 2007 to 2012 and was previously convicted in another corruption case, but hasn’t had to serve jail time.

For safety reasons, Sarkozy is expected to be held under conditions reserved for high-profile inmates, possibly in a special “VIP area” of La Santé prison in Paris, where some of France’s most notorious criminals have been imprisoned.

Sarkozy was handed the five-year sentence on Sept. 25 in a sprawling legal case after a decade of investigation. The Paris court said the prison sentence was effective immediately instead of suspending it pending appeal, citing “the seriousness of the disruption to public order caused by the offense.”

Sarkozy was given 18 days after the ruling to “organize his professional life” before Monday’s detention decision.

The French justice ministry said in 2024 that 90% of adults convicted and sentenced to at least two years in prison are immediately detained.

The court said Sarkozy, as a presidential candidate and interior minister, used his position “to prepare corruption at the highest level” from 2005 to 2007 to finance his presidential campaign with funds from Libya, then led by longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi.

The court cleared Sarkozy of three other charges and said there is no evidence the money transferred from Libya to France ended up being used in Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign or for his “direct personal enrichment.”

Sarkozy has consistently claimed his innocence, insisting he was the victim of a plot by people linked to the Libyan government. He suggested the allegations were retaliation for his call in 2011 for the removal of Gadhafi, who was toppled and killed amid Arab Spring pro-democracy protests that year.

An appeal trial is scheduled to take place at a later date, possibly in the spring.