Esther Imonmion
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has become the first ex-leader of France to be jailed, after beginning a five-year prison sentence on Monday, October 20, 2025, following his conviction for conspiring to finance his 2007 election campaign with money from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Not since Philippe Pétain, the World War II collaborationist leader jailed for treason in 1945, has a French former head of state been imprisoned.
Sarkozy, 70, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, was taken to La Santé prison in Paris on Monday morning after losing his bid to remain free pending appeal. He will serve his term in the isolation wing, where his 9-square-metre cell includes a toilet, shower, desk, and small television. He will be allowed one hour of daily exercise alone.
Dozens of supporters applauded as Sarkozy left his Paris villa hand-in-hand with his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, while heavy police presence surrounded the prison in the Montparnasse district. His son Louis urged supporters to show solidarity, and another son, Pierre, called for “a message of love — nothing else.”
As he was driven to jail, Sarkozy posted a defiant message on X, declaring:
“It is not a former president they are locking up this morning — it is an innocent man. Truth will prevail, though the price is crushing.”
President Emmanuel Macron confirmed he had received Sarkozy at the Élysée Palace last week, saying it was “normal” to do so “on a human level.” Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin also expressed concern for Sarkozy’s wellbeing, pledging to visit him “as part of my role in ensuring his safety and the proper functioning of the prison.”
Sarkozy maintains his innocence in the so-called Libyan money affair, which alleged that millions of euros in cash were secretly funneled from Gaddafi’s regime into his 2007 campaign. While he was cleared of personally receiving the money, he was convicted of criminal association alongside close aides Brice Hortefeux and Claude Guéant, both accused of arranging clandestine meetings with Libyan officials.
Despite lodging an appeal — which means he is still legally presumed innocent — the court ordered him to begin his sentence immediately due to the “exceptional seriousness of the facts.”
Sarkozy told La Tribune before his incarceration that he would face prison “head held high.” He reportedly took with him two books: A Life of Jesus by Jean-Christian Petitfils and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas — the story of a man wrongly imprisoned who seeks justice.