Nicolas Sarkozy released from prison, the Court of Appeal decides

Nicolas Sarkozy will be able to leave prison and continue to serve his sentence on probation. The decision arrived today, Monday 10 November, from the Paris Court of Appeal, almost three weeks after the former president entered the Parisian prison of La Santé to begin serving his 5-year sentence for criminal association aimed at illicit financing.

Nicolas Sarkozy released from prison

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It was Sarkozy’s lawyers who presented the request for release to the Paris Court of Appeal, while the Paris Prosecutor’s Office had requested release and parole for the former presidentwith a ban on having contact with the other defendants and witnesses of the Libyan affair, specifying how “the extreme gravity of the facts and the size of the sentence” should not have influenced the Court of Appeal’s decision.

The judges of the Paris Court of Appeal accepted the release request presented by the lawyers of the former French president, and that of the general prosecutor’s office for probation, establishing that Sarkozy will be able to leave prison today. The former French president will be on probation and he will not be able to have any contact with the various defendants and witnesses in the case for which he was convicted.

Sarkozy was declared last September 25th guilty of criminal conspiracy and sentenced by the Paris criminal court to serve 5 years in prison for crimes committed between 2005 and 2007, when he was Minister of the Interior and Regional Planning during the government of Dominique de Villepin and was preparing for the election to the Elysée.

The detention of Nicolas Sarkozy

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The former French president entered the Santé penitentiary in Paris on October 21st, accompanied by his wife Carla Brunialways at his side in these years of legal troubles.

Sarko has always rejected any accusation and reiterated it during today’s hearing video link from Santé prison: “I want us to be convinced of one thing: I never had the crazy idea of ​​asking Mr. Gaddafi for any funding. I will never recognize something that I didn’t commit. I scrupulously responded to all the summons. I couldn’t have imagined reaching the age of 70 to experience prison. This test was imposed on me: I lived it. It’s hard, very hard.”

In these three weeks Sarkozy remained in isolationaway from the other prisoners, in a nine-square-meter cell. Guarded day and night and forced into cell for 23 hours a dayhad the opportunity to meet family and friends three times a week, starting with his beloved wife Carla.