A month after being released from Santé prison, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has published a book in France to explain his prison experience. The journal of a prisoner [The Diary of a Prisoner]. It's a 200-page book in which Sarkozy settles scores with French political leaders and talks about his time in prison. which only lasted 19 days and was full of privileges"I had climbed, one by one, the rungs of social life throughout my existence. I had just fallen ten floors in one fell swoop," he writes of his admission to Santé, the prison located in the 14th arrondissement of Paris.

Former 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, aside from 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 Justice Minister 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.

Two weeks ago, we told you here that Salvador Illa's government saw a financing agreement with María Jesús Montero as close as possible, because Pedro Sánchez had ordered the pace of negotiations to be accelerated to reach an agreement before the end of this year. Sánchez had an incentive to do so: the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) is essential for him to be able to win the elections, and Esquerra (Republican Left) is essential for his investiture.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is already in prison. Sentenced to five years for the crime of criminal association in the case of financing his 2007 presidential campaignThe conservative leader became the first former French head of state to enter a penitentiary on Tuesday, the Santé prison in the 14th arrondissement of Paris.

1. Mutation. A year after the election of Nicolas Sarkozy as President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Todd published a book, After democracy, in which he already warned about the character and the era that was dawning: "He has not reached the top of the state despite his intellectual and moral deficiencies but thanks to them: respect for the strong, contempt for the weak, love of money, desire for inequality, need for aggression, pointing out sycophants in the narcissistic neighborhoods, staging of emotional and, implicitly, sexual life." The advantage of having been elected, said Todd, "by embodying and accompanying the worst among us is that it forces us to face reality." Eighteen years later, Nicolas Sarkozy, that man who seemed to take over the world, arrives at the court, emerging from his controlled house arrest, to receive notification of a five-year prison sentence. What happened? The fascination with money is high risk.

Already sentenced twice to prison terms for corruption and illicit campaign financing in 2012, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced this Thursday to five years in prison. This time, for conspiracy in the case of the alleged financing received from Libyan Rais Muammar Gaddafi for the campaign that led him to the Elysée Palace in 2007. He was also sentenced to a fine of 100,000 euros and a five-year ban from public office. The sentence can be appealed, but the former French president will still have to go to prison in the coming weeks.

The Prosecutor's Office is requesting seven years in prison and a fine of 300,000 euros for former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is being tried. for having financed the campaign that led him to the presidency with money from the Libyan regime of Moammar GaddafiThis is the harshest request made against the twelve defendants in this trial, which began on January 6, and in which the prosecution believes the facts have been proven.