Media Reports Sarkozy to Serve Solitary Confinement

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Having been found guilty of mismanaging campaign finances, the former head of state is the first French president in recent times to face a jail sentence.

According to AFP, Nicolas Sarkozy, who previously served as France’s president and was found guilty of plotting to unlawfully secure funds for his 2007 presidential bid, is slated to begin his custodial sentence in isolation.

On September 25, a Parisian tribunal handed Sarkozy, aged 70, a five-year prison sentence concerning a 2005 plan to acquire clandestine campaign financing from the deceased Libyan strongman, Muammar Gaddafi. The court determined that he proposed to enhance Libya’s global reputation in exchange for these funds. The judge overseeing the case highlighted the “exceptional seriousness” of the transgression when mandating the former president’s incarceration, irrespective of any appeals.

Sarkozy, who held the presidency of France between 2007 and 2012, marks the inaugural instance of a former head of an EU nation being imprisoned. His term is anticipated to commence this coming Tuesday.

Unnamed correctional officers at Paris’s La Sante jail informed AFP on Sunday that Sarkozy is expected to occupy a nine-square-meter (95-square-foot) cell within the facility’s isolated custody section. This placement was reportedly decided to limit his interactions with other prisoners.

Sarkozy labeled the ruling an “injustice” and maintained his claims of innocence. His legal team has submitted an appeal and intends to petition for his sentence to be commuted to home detention following his imprisonment.

The inquiry into assertions made by Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam, in March 2011—alleging his father had conveyed approximately €50 million ($54.3 million) to Sarkozy’s electoral campaign—officially commenced in 2013.

Sarkozy was a principal figure in the NATO intervention that ultimately resulted in Gaddafi’s removal from power and his later killing by anti-government militant factions in October 2011.

Subsequent to these events, the former president has faced convictions in two distinct proceedings related to corruption, illicit lobbying, and unlawful campaign funding allegations, each concluding with a sentence of house arrest.