Paris [France], October 22: Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy left his home on October 21 to go to La Sante prison in Paris, officially beginning his five-year prison sentence after being convicted of receiving illegal funding from Libya for his 2007 election campaign.
The verdict marks the end of years of investigation into allegations that Mr. Sarkozy received millions of dollars in cash from the government of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, according to Reuters. The court found Mr. Sarkozy colluded with close aides to conceal the source of the money, but acquitted him of directly receiving or using the money.
Mr Sarkozy is the first former French leader to be jailed since Marshal Philippe Petain, who collaborated with the Nazis after World War II. Mr Sarkozy has always denied wrongdoing and said the case was politically motivated. Before his imprisonment, Mr Sarkozy wrote on X: "I want to tell (the French people), with my unshakable strength, that the person imprisoned this morning is not a former French president, but an innocent man."
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
