It’s the big house for former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, 70, who began his five-year jail sentence on Tuesday.
The once mighty politician is serving time at La Sante prison in Paris after being convicted of criminal conspiracy in a scheme to finance his 2007 election campaign with Libyan money.
His stint in the clinker makes it the first time an ex-leader of modern France has ended up behind bars.
When Sarkozy left his Paris home Tuesday holding hands with wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and surrounded by family members, he was greeted by hundreds of supporters. The couple embraced before he got into a police car.
Maintains his innocence
The crowd chanted “Nicolas, Nicolas” and sang the French anthem while two French flags adorned a nearby fence, with the supportive words “Courage Nicolas, return soon” and “true France with Nicolas.”
While enroute to jail, Sarkozy released a statement on social media saying “an innocent man” was being put away and that he’s contesting both the conviction and the judge’s decision to put him in jail while he waits for his appeal.
The Paris court ruled that Sarkozy wouldbegin his prison time without waiting for his appealto be heard due to “the seriousness of the disruption to public order caused by the offence.”
Judges have up to two months to rule on Sarkozy’s appeal.
‘This incarceration is a disgrace’
“It’s an ominous day for him, for France, and for our institutions, because this incarceration is a disgrace,” Sarkozy’s lawyer Jean-Michel Darrois told reporters after he went inside.
For his own safety and security, Sarkozy will serve his time in solitary confinement at La Sante and he’s allowed to bring a maximum of three books.
The ex-president told Le Figaro newspaper his reading selections would include Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo, in which the main character escapes from an island prison to seek revenge.
Other belongings, according to his lawyers, will be a few sweaters and earplugs because the jail is cold and noisy.
What he will do behind bars
Sarkozy will be get outdoor privileges once daily alone in the prison yard and is allowed three weekly family visits, according to Christophe Ingrain, another of Sarkozy’s lawyers.
Ingrain said the ex-president is planning to write a book about his experience behind bars.
“It’s a very difficult time, but the president has stood strong,” Ingrain said. “He doesn’t complain, hasn’t asked for anything, no special treatment.”
While retired for politics from several years, Sarkozy is still an influential force in conservative circles.
“I’m not afraid of prison. I’ll hold my head high, including in front of the doors of La Sante,” he told La Tribune Dimanche newspaper last week. “I’ll fight till the end.”
Also last week, centrist President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Sarkozy at the presidential palace.
‘’I have always been very clear in my public statements about the independence of the judiciary in my role, but it was normal on a human level to receive one of my predecessors in this context,” Macron said Monday.
