{"id":371063,"date":"2025-11-11T07:49:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T07:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/371063\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T07:49:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T07:49:19","slug":"former-french-president-nicolas-sarkozy-is-released-from-prison-on-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/371063\/","title":{"rendered":"Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is released from prison on appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARIS (AP) \u2014 France\u2019s former President Nicolas Sarkozy<\/a> was freed from prison Monday after a Paris appeals court granted him release under judicial supervision<\/a>, less than three weeks after he began serving a five-year sentence for criminal conspiracy<\/a> in a scheme to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya.<\/p>\n

Sarkozy, 70, left La Sant\u00e9 prison by car and later quickly stepped into his home in western Paris. The brief scene was in contrast to his very public incarceration 20 days earlier, when he walked down the alley near his house hand-in-hand with his wife and former supermodel Carla Bruni-Sarkozy as he waved to supporters. <\/p>\n

The former president, who denies wrongdoing, is banned from leaving the French territory and from being in touch with key people including co-defendants and witnesses in the case, the court said. <\/p>\n

An appeals trial is expected to take place later, possibly in the spring.<\/p>\n

Sarkozy became the first former French head of state in modern times<\/a> to be sent behind bars after his conviction on Sept. 25. He was jailed on Oct. 21 pending appeal but immediately filed for early release.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will now prepare for the appeal trial. My energy is focused on the only goal of proving my innocence,\u201d Sarkozy said in a statement posted on his social media. \u201cThe truth will prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarkozy describes prison as \u201ca<\/p>\n

nightmare\u201d<\/p>\n

During Monday\u2019s hearing examining his request, Sarkozy, speaking from the prison via video conference, argued he has always met all justice requirements. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had never imagined I would experience prison at 70. This ordeal was imposed on me, and I lived through it. It\u2019s hard, very hard,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Sarkozy also paid tribute to prison staff who he said helped him through \u201cthis nightmare.\u201d His wife and two of his sons attended the hearing at the Paris courthouse. <\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s proceedings didn\u2019t involve the motives for the sentencing. <\/p>\n

Still, Sarkozy told the court he never asked Libya\u2019s longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi for any financing. \u201cI will never admit something I didn\u2019t do,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

French law provides that release should be the general rule pending appeal, while detention should be reserved for those considered dangerous or at risk of fleeing to another country, or to protect evidence or prevent pressure on witnesses. <\/p>\n

Sarkozy\u2019s lawyer, Christophe Ingrain, praised \u201cnormal implementation of law\u201d in a brief statement. \u201cThe next step is the appeal trial,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Banned from meeting justice minister<\/p>\n

In a rare decision, the court specifically banned Sarkozy from being in touch with Justice Minister G\u00e9rald Darmanin.<\/p>\n

Darmanin, a former conservative who once considered Sarkozy as his mentor before rejoining President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s centrist party in 2017, paid him a visit in prison last month. Some French magistrates criticized the move as undermining the independence of judges. <\/p>\n

Sarkozy, who governed from 2007 to 2012, faces separate proceedings, including a Nov. 26 ruling by France\u2019s highest court over illegal financing of his failed 2012 reelection bid, and an ongoing investigation into alleged witness tampering in the Libya case.<\/p>\n

In 2023, he was found guilty of corruption and influence peddling<\/a> for trying to bribe a magistrate in exchange for information about a legal case in which he was implicated. France\u2019s highest court, the Court of Cassation, later upheld the verdict. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS (AP) \u2014 France\u2019s former President Nicolas Sarkozy was freed from prison Monday after a Paris appeals court…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":371064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3881,160809,160811,17628,356,8703,156,57,161592,362,7575,50,57334,3715,2938,8007,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-371063","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-ap-top-news","9":"tag-carla-bruni","10":"tag-christophe-ingrain","11":"tag-corruption","12":"tag-courts","13":"tag-emmanuel-macron","14":"tag-france","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-grald-darmanin","17":"tag-legal-proceedings","18":"tag-libya","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-nicolas-sarkozy","21":"tag-paris","22":"tag-prisons","23":"tag-trials","24":"tag-world","25":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115529971450964052","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}