Retired conservative politician Nicolas Sarkozy was released from prison three weeks after being incarcerated, making history as the first head of state of a modern European country to be jailed. Convicted over campaign financing claims involving the former government of Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi, the former president continued to protest his innocence at his hearing, claiming to be a victim of revenge-style lawfare.
The Paris appeals court heard on Monday that prison for a 70-year-old former President of the French Republic is a “nightmare”, and “hard, very hard. It leaves its mark on every prisoner because it’s exhausting”. Shortly after, it ruled that it had not been justified to hold the former head of state in pre-trial detention. The immediate imprisonment of Sarkozy was contrary to regular French legal practice, where jail sentences are not generally carried out before all legal avenues of appeal have been exhausted, unless there is an immediate risk of flight or witness tampering.
Indeed, the court found “there is no risk of concealment of evidence, pressure, or collusion” with the former President of the Republic, as it ruled “pre-trial detention was not justified”.
This ruling has already divided opinion in France, along political lines, with those on the left criticising the court and those on the right praising it. The president of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party, Jordan Bardella, was particularly scathing, noting that the ruling proved that throwing a former President of France in prison, against normal practice, was never necessary and was only ever a political move.
French broadsheet newspaper Le Figaro reported that Bardella said, “The provisional execution was not justified. So, I believe, behind this was a desire to humiliate Nicolas Sarkozy. His release demonstrates that he objectively does not meet any of the criteria leading to a deferred detention order”. He also criticised the new requirements placed on Sarkozy, which require him not to leave the country, nor contact co-defendants or witnesses in the case, and even prohibit him from speaking to his political confidant, the current French justice minister, Gérald Darmanin, who visited Sarkozy in prison on October 29th.
Bardella called that a “very strange decision”, given the minister isn’t involved in the case.
Looking forward, Nicolas Sarkozy will now prepare for the appeals hearings next year to have the conviction over the so-called Libyan financing case overturned. Speaking in court today, he is quoted as saying: “I know this isn’t the place to argue the merits of my case. But I never had the idea or the foolish intention of asking Mr Gaddafi for money. And I will never confess to something I didn’t do.”
The court that convicted Sarkozy never proved that he had requested money from Libya, nor that any arrived. Nevertheless, it found a member of staff in Sakozy’s office had meetings with a representative of the Gaddafi regime, and this was considered enough to convict. Sarkozy has maintained the documents used by the prosecution as evidence are fakes cooked up by the outgoing Libyan regime as revenge for the French government supporting the Arab Spring.
Writing after his release, Sarkozy told his supporters: “As I regain my freedom and my family, I want to tell all those who wrote to me, supported me, and defended me how grateful I am. Your thousands of messages of support have deeply moved me and given me the strength to endure this ordeal. The law has been applied. I will now prepare the appeal trial. My energy is focused solely on the single goal of proving my innocence. The truth will prevail. It is an obvious truth that life teaches.
“The end of the story remains to be written.”
As reported at the time of Sarkozy’s being committed to prison last month, the unusual decision to bring forward punishment even before an appeal had been heard has also been applied to other political conservatives:
A similar ruling was made against Marine Le Pen, also on a campaign funding case, immediately banning her from seeking public office despite looming elections and with an appeal in process. In that case, as with Sarkozy’s, sovereigntist Le Pen has alleged lawfare.
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