Motorcade carrying former French president Nicolas Sarkozy arrives at La Santé Prison

(21 Oct 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Paris - 21 October 2025
1. Motorcade transporting former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to prison (NOTE: Sarkozy is in first, Renault vehicle)
2. Various of vehicle carrying Sarkozy entering prison
STORYLINE:
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy headed to prison on Tuesday to serve time for a criminal conspiracy to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya, the first ex-leader of modern France to be imprisoned.

Sarkozy contests both the conviction and a judge’s unusual decision to incarcerate him pending appeal.

His journey from the presidential Elysée Palace to the notorious La Santé prison in Paris has captivated France.

Hundreds of supporters gathered in the high-end Paris neighborhood where Sarkozy lives with his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, applauding and chanting “Nicolas, Nicolas” and singing the French anthem.

Sarkozy's lawyers said the former president will be held in solitary confinement, where he will be kept away from all other prisoners for security reasons.

Sarkozy also told Le Figaro newspaper that he would bring three books — the maximum allowed — including Alexandre Dumas' “The Count of Monte Cristo,'' in which the hero escapes from an island prison before seeking revenge.

The Paris judge ruled that Sarkozy would start to serve prison time without waiting for his appeal to be heard, due to “the seriousness of the disruption to public order caused by the offense.”

Under the ruling, the 70-year-old Sarkozy will only be able to file a request for release to the appeals court once he is behind bars, and judges will then have up to two months to process it.

Sarkozy’s lawyers said a request for release will be filed very quickly.

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