Former French president locked up for financial scheme

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy is behind bars as of Tuesday morning for the start of a five-year prison sentence. Sarkozy, 70, is the first former French president to be imprisoned. He was convicted last month of criminal conspiracy and scheming to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, the AP News reported.

Sarkozy, who was president from 2007-2012, issued a statement saying he maintains his innocence and feels a deep sorrow for a France he insisted was humiliated by a will for revenge. His lawyers filed a motion for an early release shortly after he entered prison, French broadcaster BFMTV reported. The court has up to two months to decide whether or not to grant this request.

Sarkozy made a public departure from his home Tuesday morning, where he kissed his wife goodbye and greeted crowds as police blocked off surrounding streets.

What prison is Sarkozy staying in? The former president is locked up in La Santé prison, an institution that has housed multiple high-profile detainees, including the Venezuelan militant known as Carlos the Jackal and Jean-Luc Brunel, a close associate of Jeffrey Epstein.  Sarkozy will be held in the isolation ward of the prison for his own security, according to BFMTV.

He brought family photos and several books with him into his cell, Sarkozy told French newspaper Le Figaro. The novels include “Jesus” by Jean-Christian Petitfils and “The Count of Monte Cristo,” Alexandre Dumas' novel about a man wrongly imprisoned who escapes and takes vengeance on his prosecutors.

Dig deeper: Read Onize Oduah’s report on Sarkozy's previous prison sentence in 2021 for peddling information.