Former French President Sarkozy begins 5-year jail, in contrast to Nigeria which glorifies criminal leaders in and out of office, making them unaccountable
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
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Sarkozy has appealed, but the nature of his sentence means he must go to jail as his appeal process plays out.
He has already been convicted in a separate corruption case, in which he was found guilty of trying to obtain confidential information from a judge in return for career favours, serving that sentence by wearing an electronic tag around the ankle.
Sarkozy’s isolation unit at La Santé prison in Paris, which in the past has housed leftist militant Carlos the Jackal and Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, features inmates housed in single cells and kept apart during outdoor activities for security reasons.
Conditions are similar to the rest of the prison: cells measure 100 to 130 square feet and, following renovations, now include private showers.
Sarkozy will have access to a television – for a monthly fee of 14 euros – and a landline telephone.
The decision to jail a former president has sparked outrage among Sarkozy’s political allies and the far right.
However, the ruling reflects a shift in France’s approach to white-collar crime, following reforms introduced under a previous Socialist government.
In the 1990s and 2000s, many convicted politicians avoided prison altogether.
To counter perceptions of impunity, French judges are increasingly issuing ‘provisional execution’ orders – requiring sentences to begin immediately, even as appeals are pending – legal experts and politicians told Reuters.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been banned from running for office under the same ‘provisional execution’ provision, pending an appeal early next year.
According to an October 1 Elabe poll for BFM TV, 58 per cent of French respondents believe the verdict was impartial, and 61 per cent support the decision to send Sarkozy to jail without waiting for the appeal.
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Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday began a jail term of five years, escorted to the prison by his distraught wife Carla Bruni, the first time a former leader of France would be kept behind bars in 80 years.
After escaping incarceration on two previous occasions, Sarkozy, 70, was last month jailed by a Paris criminal court for criminal conspiracy in attempts to collect illicit €50 million election funds from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
He was found guilty of criminal conspiracy in efforts by close aides to procure the funds for his 2007 presidential bid.
It is a sharp contrast to the attitude to governance in Nigeria and other parts of Africa where leaders are never held accountable in and out of office, no matter how heinous the crime committed, even if it is murder or stealing public funds.
African leaders revel in impunity and thereby stunt social and economic growth in their countries. They conduct themselves just like traditional rulers in their realm who also are not accountable to citizens and rather collect bribe to confer cultural titles and false dignity on criminal political leaders.
In European monarchies, all members of the royal family are held to the highest standards, as seen by the recent case in England where King Charles compelled his younger brother Andrew to relinquish his Duke of York and all other royal titles because of the shame caused by his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein who was convicted of paedophilia and later committed suicide in 2019 while held in New York prison for another crime of sex trafficking.
One Virginia Giuffre came up to allege that Epstein trafficked her to Andrew and that Andrew had sex with her three times, beginning from when she was underage at 17 – a double criminal offence in sane society.
Andrew denied (and still denies) the allegations, but Giuffre sued him to court in the United States and he paid millions of pounds to settle the case out of court in 2022.
With the trauma on her mind, Giuffre committed suicide in Australia in April 2025. She had written a memoir which is scheduled to be published in October 2025, with excerpts already being serialised in at least one newspaper in the United Kingdom.
The scandal dripped and festered for years, with the British public demanding Andrew relinquish his royal titles, a call he defied until a thoroughly embarrassed Charles could not take it anymore and cut him loose on October 24. That day, Andrew released a statement to announce abdication of his royal titles.
Traditional rulers in Nigeria and other African countries cite European monarchies to justify their own supposed relevance, but all they do is get away with absurdities, collect bribe to fund their seats to maintain their so-called cultural heritage for their own personal benefits without any social and economic benefit for all other citizens.
A society that glorifies criminals cannot reduce let alone stop crime.
Sarkozy was driven to the prison complex on Tuesday morning, waving to his supporters as he left his house, from where he was escorted by Bruni.
The car was surrounded by dozens of police motorbikes and vehicles on its way to La Santé Prison in southern Paris.
Daily Mail reports that he also waved to crowds of supporters as he entered prison to begin his sentence after sharing an emotional goodbye with his wife.
He arrived at La Sante prison with reporters hearing convicts shouting from their cells: ‘Welcome Sarkozy!’, ‘Sarkozy’s here.’
Sarkozy’s conviction caps years of legal battles over allegations that his 2007 campaign took millions in cash from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was later overthrown and killed during the Arab Spring uprisings.
‘I’m not afraid of prison. I’ll keep my head held high, including at the prison gates,’ Sarkozy told La Tribune Dimanche newspaper ahead of his incarceration.
Sarkozy will be facing a ‘tough time’ in Paris’s La Santé prison, and is likely to be held in a nine square metre cell in the prison’s isolation wing. His lawyer, Jean-Michel Darrois, said he has ‘some pullovers as prisons can be cold and some earplugs as there could also be a lot of noise’.
Speaking outside the Paris prison moments after the former French president entered, Sarkozy’s lawyers revealed his legal team has already lodged a request for parole, with their mission being to take him out ‘as quickly as possible’.
More than 100 people stood outside the jail this morning, after his son Louis, 28, called on supporters to rally in support of his father in the high-end Paris neighbourhood where the former French president lives.
Another son, Pierre, called for a message of love – ‘nothing else, please’.
As Sarkozy prepared to begin his prison term, he posted a message on social media repeating his claims that he is an ‘innocent man’ and said he feels a ‘deep sorrow’ for France.
‘As I prepare to cross the walls of La Sante prison, my thoughts go out to the French people of all walks of life and opinions,’ he said.
‘I want to tell them with my unwavering strength that it is not a former President of the Republic who is being locked up this morning, it is an innocent person.’
He added: ‘I feel deep sorrow for France, which finds itself humiliated by the expression of a vengeance that has taken hatred to an unprecedented level. I have no doubt. The truth will triumph. But the price to pay will have been crushing.’
Sarkozy waves to his supporters as he leaves his residence to present himself to La Sante Prison for incarceration.
Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni leave their Paris home as Sarkozy heads to prison to serve time.
Sarkozy kisses his wife Bruni before leaving in a car on the day of his incarceration.
Sarkozy waves to his supporters as he leaves his residence to present himself to La Sante Prison.
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy blows a kiss as her husband Nicolas heads to prison.
Sarkozy hugs his wife Bruni as he leaves his residence.
Supporters of Sarkozy gather outside his residence ahead of his departure to La Sante prison.
Supporters chanted ‘Nicolas, Nicolas’ as he left his home and stepped into the car that would take him to jail after sharing a final kiss with Bruni and waving goodbye to the crowds.
Sarkozy had told Le Figaro he would take three books for his first week behind bars, including Alexandre Dumas’ ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ – the story of a man unjustly imprisoned who plots his revenge against those who betrayed him.
Sebastien Cauwel, who heads up the high-profile La Santé prison in Paris told RTL Radio: ‘He will be able to access the exercise yard, on his own, twice a day, he will have access to an activities room while on his own and he will be alone when inside his prison cell.’
At the end of last week he was received at the Élysée Palace by President Emmanuel Macron, who told reporters on Monday ‘it was normal that on a human level I should receive one of my predecessors in that context’.
In a further measure of official support for the ex-president, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said he would go to visit him in prison as part of his role in ensuring Sarkozy’s safety and the proper functioning of the jail.
‘I cannot be insensitive to a man’s distress,’ he added.
The incarceration makes him the first former French leader to be jailed since Nazi collaborator Marshal Philippe Petain after World War Two.
While Sarkozy was found guilty of conspiring with close aides to orchestrate the scheme in 2007, he was acquitted of personally receiving or using the funds.
He has consistently denied wrongdoing and called the case politically motivated, saying judges were seeking to humiliate him.
Sarkozy arrives by car at La Sante Prison in Paris.
Bruni Sarkozy oustide Sarkozy’s residence ahead of his departure to La Sante Prison.
Pierre Sarkozy arrives at the house of his father.
Louis Sarkozy and his wife Natali Husic leave the house of his father.
Jean (second left) and Pierre (right), sons of Sarkozy, arrive at their father’s residence ahead of his departure to La Sante Prison.
A supporter holds a poster with a portrait of Sarkozy and the slogan ‘Strong France’ as people attend a gathering called by the sons of the former French President.
Sarkozy has appealed, but the nature of his sentence means he must go to jail as his appeal process plays out.
He has already been convicted in a separate corruption case, in which he was found guilty of trying to obtain confidential information from a judge in return for career favours, serving that sentence by wearing an electronic tag around the ankle.
Conditions are similar to the rest of the prison: cells measure 100 to 130 square feet and, following renovations, now include private showers.
Sarkozy will have access to a television – for a monthly fee of 14 euros – and a landline telephone.
The decision to jail a former president has sparked outrage among Sarkozy’s political allies and the far right.
Sarkozy’s isolation unit at La Santé prison in Paris, which in the past has housed leftist militant Carlos the Jackal and Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, features inmates housed in single cells and kept apart during outdoor activities for security reasons.
People gather outside Sarkozy’s home October 21, 2025 in Paris.
In the 1990s and 2000s, many convicted politicians avoided prison altogether.
To counter perceptions of impunity, French judges are increasingly issuing ‘provisional execution’ orders – requiring sentences to begin immediately, even as appeals are pending – legal experts and politicians told Reuters.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been banned from running for office under the same ‘provisional execution’ provision, pending an appeal early next year.
According to an October 1 Elabe poll for BFM TV, 58 per cent of French respondents believe the verdict was impartial, and 61 per cent support the decision to send Sarkozy to jail without waiting for the appeal.
Macron, who had warm relations with Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni, said on Monday he had met Sarkozy ahead of his incarceration.
Justice minister Gerald Darmanin, who is close to Sarkozy, told France Inter radio he would go and visit the former president.
Read also:
Nicolas Sarkozy, former French President, bags 5-year jail over attempts by aides to collect €50m from Gaddafi to fund election
