Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy began serving his prison sentence on the 21st

The French National Financial Prosecutor's Office summoned former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was sentenced to five years in prison by the Paris Criminal Court, on Monday afternoon (October 13th), informing him of the time and place of his sentence.

French media reported that Sarkozy will serve his sentence in a prison in Paris starting from October 21.

According to reports from Le Figaro and other media outlets, Sarkozy has appealed against the verdict, insisting on his innocence, but the appeal does not have the effect of probation. Therefore, he must serve his sentence in prison. The appeal hearing is scheduled to be held at the Appellate Court in March 2026.

On September 25th, Sarkozy was sentenced to five years in prison by the Paris Criminal Court for allegedly illegally accepting campaign funding provided by former Libyan leader Gaddafi. The presiding judge, Gavarino, said that Sarkozy was convicted of "conspiracy" between 2005 and 2007, "allowing his close associates and political supporters to demand financial support from the Libyan government during the 2007 presidential campaign."

According to the verdict, Sarkozy was not imprisoned on the day of the sentencing. He needs to be summoned by the prosecution within a month to inform them of the specific date and location of his sentence before he can start serving it.

Sarkozy served as the president of France from 2007 to 2012. After his re-election defeat in 2012, French media exposed a secret document from the Libyan intelligence agency, claiming that "Sarkozy had received a huge amount of euro political donations from Libya for the 2007 presidential campaign." French prosecutors thus suspect that Gaddafi and his second son Saif provided political donations to Sarkozy for the election campaign. In March 2011, Saif disclosed in an interview with Euronews Television that Libya had provided funds for Sarkozy's election campaign.