Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy heads to prison on Tuesday to serve time for a criminal conspiracy to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya.
The first ex-leader of modern France to be imprisoned, Sarkozy contests both the conviction and a judge’s unusual decision to incarcerate him pending appeal.
His journey from the presidential Elysee Palace to the notorious La Sante prison in Paris has captivated France.
One of Sarkozy’s sons, Louis, called for a rally on Tuesday morning in support of his father in the high-end Paris neighbourhood where Sarkozy lives with his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
The supermodel-turned-singer has shared photos of Sarkozy’s children and songs in his honour on her social media feeds since his conviction.
Embattled centrist President Emmanuel Macron hosted the conservative Sarkozy at the presidential palace last week.
“I have always been very clear in my public statements about the independence of the judiciary in my role, but it was normal on a human level to receive one of my predecessors in this context,” Macron said on Monday.
Sarkozy told Le Figaro newspaper that he expects to be held in solitary confinement, where he would be kept away from all other prisoners for security reasons. Another possibility is that he is held in the prison’s section for “vulnerable″ inmates, colloquially known as the VIP section.
“I’m not afraid of prison. I’ll hold my head high, including in front of the doors of La Sante,” Sarkozy told La Tribune Dimanche newspaper. “I’ll fight till the end.”
La Tribune Dimanche reports Sarkozy has his prison bag ready with clothes and the 10 family photos he is allowed to bring.
Sarkozy also told Le Figaro newspaper he would bring three books — the maximum allowed — including Alexandre Dumas’ “The Count of Monte Cristo”, whose hero escapes from an island prison before seeking revenge.
The Paris judge ruled that Sarkozy would start to serve prison time without waiting for his appeal to be heard, due to “the seriousness of the disruption to public order caused by the offense”.
Under the ruling, the 70-year-old Sarkozy will only be able to file a request for release to the appeals court once he is behind bars, and judges will then have up to two months to process the request.
