Former French President was applauded by supporters as he went to prison on Tuesday, calling for fresh national elections as he went.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a conservative, was applauded by supporters as he went to prison on Tuesday, protesting his innocence as he went and calling for the government to be dissolved for fresh national elections.
Nicolas Sarkozy departed his Paris home to travel to the maximum-security La Santé Prison on Tuesday, keeping an appointment made by the court after his sentencing to a five year incarceration earlier this month over a hotly contested campaign financing charge. Sarkozy and his lawyers have insisted the case is one of “false criminal conspiracy” and that other French politicians have been let off for doing much more, claiming the prosecution against him was one of lawfare driven by a desire for revenge.
The former conservative statesman was applauded, cheered, and greeted with supporters singing the French national anthem in Paris as he left his home on Tuesday morning, but was met with sardonic cries from inmates calling from their windows at La Santé as he arrived by car. He is the first President in the history of the Fifth French Republic — established by General Charles de Gaulle in 1958 — and the first leader of a European Union member state to be imprisoned.
In a statement published shortly before going to prison, Sarkozy addressed to the French people, decrying the “judicial scandal”, and said “I want to tell them with my unwavering strength that it is not a former President of the Republic who is being locked up this morning; it is an innocent man.”
Sarkozy said he felt no self pity but rather “profound sorrow for France” which has been “humiliated by vengeance”.
French conservative broadsheet Le Figaro reported Sarkozy and his legal team filed an application for review that could see the former President released within weeks.
