A Paris appeals court on Monday decided to release former French President Nicolas Sarkozy from prison for three weeks after serving a five-year sentence and place him under judicial supervision.
He will leave La Sainte prison in Paris on Monday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, Sarkozy had described how his imprisonment was a “nightmare” as the appeals court examined his request for release pending the hearing of an appeal following his conviction for criminal conspiracy.
Why was Sarkozy in jail?
In September a lower court found Sarkozy guilty of trying to obtain funds from Moammar Gaddafi’s Libya ahead of his successful election bid in 2007.
Although the court did not rule on whether Sarkozy received or used the money for his campaign, it did find the former president guilty of criminal conspiracy over the scheme.
Sarkozy entered prison on October 21, becoming the first former head of an EU member state to be jailed, but his legal team immediately demanded his release.
If the appeals court in the French capital agrees to his release, Sarkozy will be freed immediately.
Labeled the “Libyan affair” by the French media, the allegations date back to 2011, when a Libyan news outlet published a story about the campaign’s financing.
The allegations gained momentum in 2016, when Takidin said he personally delivered a suitcase full of cash from Libyan authorities to the French Interior Ministry.
Sarkozy, who was the President of France from 2007 to 2012, has already been elected. guilty of corruption and influence peddling in unrelated matters.
What did Sarkozy say?
The 70-year-old man, wearing a dark blue jacket and accompanied by lawyers, appeared via video call from jail.
He told the court, “It is difficult, very difficult, certainly for any prisoner. I would even say it is grueling,” but prison staff have made “this nightmare… bearable.”
Prosecutor Damien Brunet had asked the court to agree to Sarkozy’s request for release.
“The risk of collusion and pressure on witnesses justifies the request for judicially supervised release,” he said.
Also present in the courtroom were Sarkozy’s wife, singer and model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and the former president’s two sons.
Edited by: Wesley Rahn