Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy at the Paris courthouse in Paris, on March 25, 2025. HUGO MATHY / AFP
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy is to learn Monday, October 13, when and where he will serve out his prison term after a court sentenced him last month to five years behind bars for criminal conspiracy. Sarkozy, France's leader from 2007 to 2012, was convicted in late September over a scheme for late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to fund his 2007 presidential run.
He has denied the charges and appealed that conviction, but the judges ruled that his sentence will be implemented even as his appeal plays out. The 70-year-old will be the first French postwar leader and the first former head of a European Union country to serve jail time. Extra security measures are expected, with Sarkozy possibly placed in a unit for vulnerable prisoners or held in solitary confinement.
The former president immediately appealed his September conviction, with a new trial expected in the coming months. The Paris appeals court has up to 18 months to organise it. Once jailed, his lawyers can petition the appeals court for his release, but he will remain in custody unless it decides otherwise.
