Fmr French President Sarkozy released after three weeks in prison
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been released from jail, after serving three weeks out of a five-year prison term.
His release however is not without conditions, as he would be subject to strict judicial supervision and barred from leaving France.
The former President who arrived his Paris home in western Paris, was earlier seen leaving La Santé prison in Paris just before 15:00 (14:00 GMT), about an hour after a court agreed to his early release.
Sarkozy who served as the President of France between 2007 and 2012 was found guilty of criminal conspiracy on October 21 and sentenced to a five-year jail term.
The 70-year old former President was however not found guilty on the charges of passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, and concealing the embezzlement of public funds.
The court case which lasted 3 months in Paris centered on the alleged illegal financing of Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential election campaign by the Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi.
He was consequently sentenced to five years imprisonment for conspiring to fund his 2007 election campaign with money from late Gaddafi, though his legal team immediately filed a request seeking his release.
On his recent release, one of Sarkozy’s lawyers, Christopher Ingrain, hailed the development as “a step forward” stating that the team would now be preparing for the appeal trial which would be held in March.
One of the conditions of Sarkozy’s release is that he does not contact any Justice Ministry employee.
The visit paid him by the Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin during his incarceration, had prompted 30 French lawyers to file a complaint against Darmanin, highlighting what they referred to as a conflict of interest, since Darmanin was a former colleague and friend of Sarkozy’s.
Public prosecutor Damien Brunet recommended that Sarkozy’s request for release be granted, but that the former President be banned from contacting other witnesses in the “Libyan dossier”.
Sarkozy told the court via video link that he had never asked Gaddafi for money, stating that he would never admit to something he had not done.
He described his time in solitary confinement as “gruelling” and “a nightmare”, while thanking the prison staff for showing him “exceptional humanity”.
