France Sends Former President Nicolas Sarkozy to Prison to Start 5-Year Sentence

Europe|France Jails Former President in Case That Prompted Threats to Judges

The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was sent to a Paris prison on Tuesday, the first time in more than half a century an ex-head of state has been jailed in the country.

Mr. Sarkozy was found guilty of conspiring to seek funding for his 2007 presidential campaign from the government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the former Libyan strongman, and was handed a five-year sentence last month.

Few observers expect him to serve the whole term, but his conviction has already prompted a fierce debate in the country. Judges involved in the case have been targeted on social media, with some receiving death threats, according to the president of Paris’s Court of Appeal, Jacques Boulard. The Paris public prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, spoke out against what she called an “outburst of hate” and said that an investigation had been opened.

Mr. Sarkozy, a former lawyer who quickly rose through the ranks of French politics, is known for his pugnacious energy — powered by an immutable morning run routine — and sharp wit. Since he stepped down from office in 2012, he has retained influence both within his own conservative party and with President Emmanuel Macron, whom he publicly supported during the last presidential elections in 2022.

Mr. Sarkozy, who has also been stripped of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest distinction, is adamant that he is innocent and has repeatedly questioned the verdict.

He will be confined to a cell at La Santé, a prison in southern Paris. To ensure his safety he will be placed in solitary confinement, Sébastien Cauwel, the head of the prison administration, said in a radio interview Tuesday morning. He will be allowed three visits per week and two walks per day, like any other inmate.