Sarkozy released from prison pending appeal in conspiracy case
By NICOLAS VAUX-MONTAGNY and SYLVIE CORBET, Associated Press
PARIS (AP) — Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was released from prison Monday after a Paris appeals court granted him judicially supervised release, less than three weeks after he began serving a five-year prison sentence for criminal conspiracy in a scheme to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya.
Sarkozy, 70, left La Santé prison by car and then quickly went to his home in western Paris. The brief scene contrasted with his very public incarceration 20 days earlier, when he walked down the alley near his home, hand in hand with his wife and former model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, while greeting supporters.
The former president, who denies any wrongdoing, is prohibited from leaving French territory and being in contact with key people, including co-defendants and witnesses in the case, the court said.
An appeal trial is expected to take place later, perhaps in the spring.
Sarkozy became the first former French head of state in modern times to be sent behind bars following his conviction on September 25. He was jailed on October 21 pending his appeal, but immediately requested early release.
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Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and son Jean Sarkozy leave a Paris court before it decides whether to release Sarkozy from prison, less than three weeks after he began serving a five-year sentence for criminal conspiracy in a scheme to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya, Monday, November 10, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
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Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and son Jean Sarkozy leave a Paris court before it decides whether to release Sarkozy from prison, less than three weeks after he began serving a five-year sentence for criminal conspiracy in a scheme to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya, Monday, November 10, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
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Sarkozy calls prison a “nightmare”
At Monday’s hearing examining his request, Sarkozy, speaking from prison via video conference, said he had always met all the demands of justice.
“I never imagined living in prison at 70 years old. This ordeal was imposed on me and I lived through it. It’s hard, very hard,” he says.
Sarkozy also paid tribute to prison staff who he said helped him get through “this nightmare”. His wife and two of his sons were present at the hearing at the Paris courthouse.
Monday’s debates did not focus on the reasons for the conviction.
Yet Sarkozy told the court he never requested funding from Libya’s longtime leader, Muammar Gaddafi. “I will never admit to something I didn’t do,” he said.
French law provides that release should be the general rule pending an appeal, while detention should be reserved for people considered dangerous or at risk of fleeing to another country, or to protect evidence or prevent pressure on witnesses.
Sarkozy’s lawyer, Christophe Ingrain, praised the “normal application of the law” in a brief statement. “The next step is the appeal trial and our job now… is to prepare for that,” he said.
Banned from meeting the Minister of Justice
In a rare decision, the court specifically banned Sarkozy from being in contact with Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin.
Darmanin, a former conservative who considered Sarkozy his mentor before joining President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party in 2017, visited him in prison last month. Some French magistrates criticized the decision, calling it an attack on the independence of judges.
Sarkozy, who governed from 2007 to 2012, faces separate proceedings, including a Nov. 26 ruling from France’s highest court regarding illegal financing of his failed 2012 re-election bid, and an ongoing investigation into allegations of witness tampering in the Libya affair.
In 2023, he was convicted of corruption and influence peddling for attempting to bribe a magistrate in exchange for information about a court case in which he was involved. France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, later upheld the verdict.
