Khaberni - Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy begins serving a 5-year prison sentence today, Tuesday, at La Santé Prison in Paris, accused of conspiring to collect funds from Libya to finance his electoral campaign, making him the first French leader to enter prison since World War II.
Sarkozy, a conservative, held the presidency from 2007 to 2012, and has become the first former French president to be imprisoned since Marshal Philippe Pétain for his cooperation with the Nazis after World War II.
This conviction comes at the end of years of legal battles over allegations that his 2007 election campaign received millions of euros in cash from Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, who was later overthrown and killed during the Arab Spring uprisings.
While Sarkozy was convicted of conspiring with close aides to orchestrate this scheme, the court acquitted him of personally receiving the funds or using them for private purposes.
He has consistently denied any wrongdoing and described the case as politically motivated, saying that the judges sought to humiliate him. He appealed the judgment, but a Paris court, in an unprecedented decision, ruled that Sarkozy has to start serving his sentence without waiting for the appeal results, due to "the seriousness of the disturbance caused to public order."
Sarkozy was already convicted in a separate corruption case related to his attempt to obtain confidential information from a judge in exchange for job benefits, and he is serving this sentence by wearing an electronic anklet.
Sarkozy is likely to be held in solitary confinement, where prisoners are placed in single cells and engage in activities separately from each other for security reasons.
The conditions are similar to the rest of the prison, where the cell sizes range from 9 to 12 square meters, and, after renovations, include private bathrooms. Sarkozy will have access to a television for a monthly fee of 14 euros (16 dollars) and a landline phone.
In a statement to Le Figaro, Sarkozy said he would take three books with him in his first week behind bars, including the novel "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas, a story of a man unjustly imprisoned who plans revenge against those who betrayed him.
The judgment reflects a shift in France's approach to dealing with crimes committed by senior officials following reforms introduced by the previous socialist government, and during the 1990s and the first decade of this century, several convicted politicians completely avoided prison.
According to legal experts and politicians quoted by Reuters, French judges are increasingly issuing "provisional execution of sentences," which require the immediate commencement of sentences even while appeals are under consideration, to address perceptions of impunity.
Although Sarkozy's imprisonment decision angered his political allies and the far-right, a poll conducted by Elabe in early October for "B.F.M TV" showed that 58% of the French believe the judgment to be fair, while 61% supported the decision to send Sarkozy to prison without waiting for the appeal.
