Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Enter Prison on October 21
According to sources close to the case, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is set to enter the La Santé prison in Paris on October 21, following his summons by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF), as reported by the Agence France-Presse.
Sarkozy will become the first former head of state of a European Union country to be imprisoned. The Île-de-France region has only two detention centers with a "protection wing" that can guarantee the former president's security: La Santé prison in Paris and Fleury-Mérogis prison in the south of the capital.
When contacted by the AFP, neither Sarkozy's lawyer, Christophe Ingrain, nor the National Financial Prosecutor's Office commented on the date and location of his imprisonment, an unprecedented event in French history.
On September 25, a Parisian court sentenced Sarkozy to five years in prison for allowing his associates to contact former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to secure illegal funding for his 2007 election campaign.
Despite his appeal, the 70-year-old Sarkozy will be imprisoned under a deferred arrest warrant with provisional execution. The court justified this measure by the "exceptional gravity of the facts" committed by a political leader who was then aspiring to the highest office in the Republic.
Unlike the two other individuals convicted in this case, intermediary Alexandre Djouhri and banker Wahib Nacer, who were immediately taken into custody, Sarkozy was granted a delay before his imprisonment to make necessary arrangements regarding his professional obligations.
