In a historic moment for the French political scene, the former president of France Nicolas Sarkozy passed her door prison La Santé in Paris – on Tuesday morning (21.10.2025) after the court sentenced him to five years in prison for the case of the financing of his election campaign, in 2007, by the Gaddafi regime. According to his lawyer, the former French president will remain in prison “at least three weeks or a month.”
Sarkozy left his home in France shortly after 10am accompanied by his wife, Carla Bruni and amid cheers from his supporters and with his wife, Carla Bruni, and children by his side. These are the last hours he walks free. “Nicolas, we love you” shouted the crowd, while Sarkozy greeted them.
With the authorities’ measures draconian, he arrived at the prison shortly before 11am to serve a five-year sentence handed down by a French court over the financing of his 2007 election campaign by Libya’s then-Gaddafi regime.
It is the first former president to go to prison.
It is noted that his lawyers – as expected – submitted a request for release from prison.
Nicolas Sarkozy greets the crowd gathered in front of his home shortly before leaving for La Santé prison pic.twitter.com/oXZfLA4HJs
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) October 21, 2025
Sarkozy: “I feel deep sadness for France”
While on his way to prison, he issued a statement speaking of, among other things, “deep sadness” he feels for France.
In a text published on his X account, he denounces “a judicial scandal” and “a path of suffering” that he says he has endured “for more than ten years”.
— Nicolas Sarkozy (@NicolasSarkozy) October 21, 2025
“Therefore, this is a case of illegal funding without any funding at all,” he wrote, adding that the investigation was “initiated on the basis of a document whose false nature has now been proven.”
Nicolas Sarkozy insists he is “not asking for any favors”. “I ask for no advantage, no favor. I am not for you to feel sorry for me, because my voice is heard. I should not be sad, because my wife and children are by my side and my friends are innumerable.”
He assures that he faces this test “with the solid strength” that characterizes him: “He is not a former president of the Republic who is locked up today, he is an innocent.”
In conclusion, he emphasizes: “I feel deep sorrow for France, which is being humiliated […]: “I have no doubt. The truth will triumph. But the price we will have to pay will be overwhelming…”
The 70-year-old Sarkozy is led to one historic Parisian prison, La Santé penitentiary. This is a prison that once housed “Carlos the Jackal” and the former dictator of Panama, Manuel Noriega.
“It is the prison that is most suitable” said a few days ago the representative of the union of correctional officers Wilfried Fonck.
He said that La Santé has a wing for the so-called “VIP apartments”, where well-known political figures have been imprisoned in the past, including Sarkozy’s former associate Claude Jean, who was among those convicted in the Gaddafi case.
Inmates in the VIP wing are housed in single cells, as opposed to the usual three-person cells, and go out alone for security reasons.
This will prevent Sarkozy from coming into contact with other inmates or being photographed with one of the many cellphones smuggled into the building, according to a prison staff member who asked not to be named.
Besides these, Fonk stressed that the conditions are no better than those in the other cells, which range in size from 9 to 12 square meters. In solitary confinement, prisoners are allowed out of their cells for one walk a day, alone, in a small yard.
“A gloomy day for France,” declared his lawyer after his detention
A few hours after he was admitted to the Santé prison, the lawyers of the former French president filed a request for release, arguing that there are no risks of repeating the events or influencing witnesses, while stressing that justice must be restored to the dignity it deserves.
“This booking is a disgrace!” Sarkozy’s lawyers said on Tuesday morning.
Lawyer Jean-Michel Darrois stressed: “The court, without any evidence, chose to detain Nicolas Sarkozy for a false connection with a criminal group. Moreover, despite the findings he had made, the court wanted to put him in jail.”
“It is a gloomy day for him, for France and for our institutional structures,” he added, stressing that he hopes, along with his colleague Christophe Ingren, that the Court of Appeal will restore French justice to the dignity it deserves.
In front of the Santé prison, a few minutes after the former president was detained, Christophe Ingren announced that “release request has been submitted” of Sarkozy.
According to him, the former president will remain in prison for “at least three weeks or a month.”