French justice grants Sarkozy his freedom twenty days after he enters prison

ParisFormer French President Nicolas Sarkozy will spend Christmas at home. Twenty days after being imprisoned in Santé prison in Paris, he was finally able to return home on Monday. despite having been sentenced in the first instance to five years in prison for the crime of illicit association In the case of Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign, the French courts have granted him conditional release, under judicial supervision.

The former president left prison at 2:30 p.m. in a car escorted by police. This time, there was no welcoming committee when he arrived at his home in Paris's 16th arrondissement, beyond the press and a few onlookers.

Pending the appeals process, scheduled for March of next year, the courts have prohibited him from leaving the country and from having contact with anyone connected to the case. He is also prohibited from contacting the Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, a personal friend of Sarkozy. The Justice Minister visited him in prison, a gesture that drew criticism from the judiciary. The explicit prohibition against contact is a clear disapproval of Darmanin's gesture. The appeals court, which examined Sarkozy's request for release early Monday morning, ruled that his continued pretrial detention was unjustified because there was no risk of evidence tampering, pressure, or collusion. Sarkozy appeared via video conference from prison this morning. His wife, Carla Bruni, and two of his children were physically present at the hearing. "It's hard, very hard," the former Élysée Palace resident admitted about his time in prison, also calling it a "nightmare." The prosecutor had requested his release, albeit with "strict" judicial oversight, given that the sentence is not final and that the former conservative head of state is already 70 years old, an age at which the French justice system rarely keeps people in prison without a final sentence, especially if there is no possibility of a plea bargain.

On September 25, the French courts sentenced Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the Republic from 2007 to 2012, to five years in prison, a fine of €100,000, and a five-year ban from holding public office. The sentence recognized that the former president, along with people in his inner circle, had promoted negotiations with the regime of Muammar Gaddafi to illegally finance the presidential campaign that took him to the Élysée Palace.

Evidence against Sarkozy

According to the French justice system, it was proven that these conversations took place and that Gaddafi paid money to Sarkozy's associates. However, the former president was acquitted of the charges of corruption, illegal campaign financing, and embezzlement of public funds because the money could not be traced and, therefore, there is no evidence that it was used to finance the presidential campaign. In any case, the sentence mandated the convicted man's imprisonment due to the seriousness of the offenses. During Monday's hearing, Sarkozy insisted on his innocence. "I hope the court is convinced of one thing: I never had the intention, nor the crazy idea, of asking Mr. Gaddafi for anything. To evade justice would be to confess. I will never confess anything," he asserted from Santé. His brief time in prison He has been very controversial because of his alleged privileges, such as being alone in a cell in an overcrowded prison, or having two police officers by his side 24 hours a day to prevent any aggression or incident.