Nicolas Sarkozy is a former president of France, in office from 2007 to 2012. He was 70 years old when jailed in October 2025.
On October 21st 2025 Sarkozy was driven from his home and escorted by police outriders to the Prison de la Santé in southern Paris, becoming the first French ex-head of state to be put behind bars since the wartime collaborationist leader, Marshal Petain. (The last French head of state to be imprisoned before Petain was Louis XVI, in 1792.)
A judge on September 25th found him guilty of "criminal conspiracy" in a trial over the illicit financing of his 2007 presidential campaign by Muammar Qaddafi, the former Libyan dictator. The judge said Sarkozy had "allowed his close aides" to solicit funds, though she could not "establish proof" that money was ultimately used to finance the campaign. He was acquitted of three other, more serious charges, including corruption and embezzlement. The judge sentenced him to five years in prison with immediate effect, meaning he is serving time while he appeals. For his safety, he is held in a solitary unit, in a cell about ten square metres in size. His lawyers lodged an immediate request for conditional release.
Earlier in 2025, Sarkozy had worn an electronic tag following a conviction for corruption and influence-peddling in a separate case.
His jailing fits a pattern under which French politicians are increasingly being held to account by the judiciary. Jacques Chirac became the first former president in modern times to be tried in court, over "fake jobs" at the Paris town hall during his stint as mayor; in 2011 he was found guilty and given a suspended sentence.
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