Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is going to prison today

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy today faces an unprecedented fate: he will learn the exact time and place where he will begin serving his prison sentence for criminal conspiracy related to the illegal financing of his victorious 2007 campaign with Libyan funds. This event will be the first case in modern French history when a former head of state will be taken into custody.

According to Baku.Ws, citing global news agencies, the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) will inform the 70-year-old Sarkozy which prison he should report to and when. It is expected that this relatively brief and formal meeting will take place today in the afternoon. PNF spokesperson Bérénice Dean stated that information about the location and date will not be made public to spare Sarkozy from publicity at the moment his incarceration begins. Despite Sarkozy insisting on his innocence and protesting against the decision to send him behind bars before his appeal is heard, the sentence was implemented immediately.

Nicolas Sarkozy, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, was sentenced on September 25 to five years in prison in a extensive case that had been investigated for a decade. The Paris court ruled that the sentence takes effect immediately, not suspended during appeal, citing the "serious disruption of public order caused by the crime." Although Sarkozy has long stepped away from active politics, he remains an influential figure in conservative circles. Previously, he had already been convicted in another corruption case, but then avoided imprisonment. It is expected that for security reasons, Sarkozy will be held in conditions designed for high-profile inmates, possibly in a special "VIP zone" of Paris's La Santé prison, where some of France's most notorious criminals have served their sentences. After being taken into custody, Sarkozy will be able to submit a request for release to the appeals court, which will have up to two months to consider the request.