By Joy Essien, Contributing Editor, Lagos Metropolitan.
On November 10, Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was released from jail, three weeks into a five-year prison term for taking part in a criminal conspiracy. He will be subjected to strict judicial supervision and barred from leaving France ahead of an appeal trial due to be held next year. He is also barred from contacting people involved in the case or French Justice officials, according to the court.
On October 21, the former center-right president was sentenced to 5 years for conspiring to fund his 2007 election campaign with money from late dictator Muammar Gaddafi. His legal team immediately filed a request seeking his release.
Christophe Ingrain, one of Mr. Sarkozy’s lawyers, welcomed the decision but called it a first step. "The next step is the appeal trial, and our job now, Nicolas Sarkozy’s and ours, is to prepare for this appeal trial," he told reporters outside the courtroom.
By filing an appeal, Mr. Sarkozy is now again presumed innocent. And it is not uncommon for French courts to allow those who appeal their conviction to remain free, especially nonviolent offenders.
Speaking to a court in Paris via video link on Monday morning, Sarkozy described his time in solitary confinement as "gruelling" and a "nightmare". He said he had never had the "mad idea" of asking Gaddafi for money and stated that he would "never admit to something I haven’t done".
Sarkozy’s wife, singer and model, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and two of his sons were present in the courtroom to support him.
Sarkozy’s car was seen leaving La Santé prison in Paris less than an hour and a half after the court agreed to his release. Soon after, he was seen arriving at his home in western Paris. Writing on social media after the release, he said his "energy is focused solely on the single goal of proving my innocence." The truth will prevail…. The end of the story is yet to be written."
This latest case ignited a partisan debate between those on the French right, who deemed his incarceration unfair, and those on the left, who said that Mr. Sarkozy should be treated like any other convict. It also put the French prison administration under immense pressure to maintain Mr. Sarkozy’s security without giving the impression that he was receiving special treatment.
