Humbled Nicolas Sarkozy enters prison after emotional goodbye to distraught-looking Carla Bruni: Crowds look on as ex French president begins five-year term after final visit from his sons

A distraught Nicolas Sarkozy entered prison this morning to begin his five-year sentence after an emotional farewell with his wife Carla Bruni.

The 70-year-old former French president arrived at La Sante prison on Tuesday morning and journalists heard prisoners shouting from their cells: ‘Welcome Sarkozy!’, ‘Sarkozy is here’.

Sarkozy’s conviction caps years of legal battles over allegations that his 2007 campaign received millions of dollars in cash from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was later overthrown and killed during the Arab Spring uprisings.

‘I’m not afraid of prison. “I will hold my head high, including at the prison doors,” Sarkozy told La Tribune Dimanche newspaper before his imprisonment.

Sarkozy will have a ‘hard time’ in La Santé prison in Paris and will likely be kept in a nine square meter cell in the prison’s isolation section. His lawyer, Jean-Michel Darrois, said that ‘he wore a sweater because prisons can be cold and he wore earplugs because there could be a lot of noise’.

Speaking outside minutes after the former French president entered the Paris prison, Sarkozy’s lawyers announced that his legal team had already requested parole and that their mission was to get him out ‘as soon as possible’.

More than 100 people stood outside the prison this morning after his 28-year-old son Louis called on supporters to rally in support of his father in the upscale Paris neighborhood where the former French president lives.

The other son, Pierre, asked for a message of love, ‘nothing else, please’.

While preparing to go to prison, Sarkozy reiterated his claims that he was an ‘innocent man’ and said he felt ‘deep sadness’ for France in his post on social media.

‘As I prepare to breach the walls of La Sante prison, my thoughts go out to the French people of all walks of life and thought,’ he said.

‘I want to tell them with my unshakable power that the person arrested this morning is not a former President, but an innocent person.’

He added: ‘I feel profound sadness for France, which finds itself humiliated by the expression of revenge that has taken hatred to an unprecedented level. I have no doubt. The truth will triumph. But the price to pay will be very heavy.’

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy kisses his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy before getting into the car on the day he is held in La Sante prison

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy (C) waves to his supporters as he leaves his home to go to La Sante Prison

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy blew a kiss to her husband, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, as he went to prison

Nicolas Sarkozy (C) hugs his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy while leaving his house

Supporters of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy gathered outside his home ahead of his departure to La Sante prison for a five-year sentence.

Fans chanted “Nicolas, Nicolas” as he shared his last kiss with Bruni and waved to the crowd, then exited his own car and stepped into the car that would take him to prison.

Sarkozy told Le Figaro that he would buy three books for his first week behind bars; these included Alexandre Dumas’s ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’, the story of a man unjustly imprisoned who plots revenge against those who betrayed him.

Sebastien Cauwel, warden of the high-profile La Santé prison in Paris, told RTL Radio: ‘On his own he will have access to an exercise area twice a day, when he is on his own he will have access to an activity room and when he is in his prison cell he will be alone.’

He was received by President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace at the end of last week, and Macron told reporters on Monday that “in this context, it is normal for me to acknowledge one of my predecessors on a human level.”

In a further measure of official support for the former president, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said he would visit Sarkozy in prison as part of his role in ensuring his security and the proper functioning of the prison.

‘I cannot remain insensitive to a man’s distress,’ he added.

The imprisonment makes him the first former French leader to be imprisoned since Nazi collaborator Marshal Philippe Petain after World War II.

While Sarkozy was found guilty of conspiring with close aides to organize this scheme in 2007, he was acquitted of personally receiving or using the funds.

He has consistently denied any wrongdoing and said the case was politically motivated, saying the judges were trying to humiliate him.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives by car at La Sante Prison in Paris, France, October 21, 2025

Carla Bruni Sarkozy vacated Nicolas Sarkozy’s home before he went to La Sante Prison to be sentenced to five years in prison for criminal conspiracy

Pierre Sarkozy came to the house of his father, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy

His son Louis Sarkozy and his wife Natali Husic left the house of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy

Jean Sarkozy (L2) and Pierre Sarkozy (right), sons of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, arrive at their father’s house before his father goes to La Sante Prison.

A supporter attending a meeting organized by the sons of the former French President was carrying a poster with the portrait of Nicolas Sarkozy and the slogan ‘Strong France’

He appealed but the nature of his sentence means he will have to go to prison as the appeal progresses.

The former president was previously convicted in a separate corruption case; In this case, he was convicted of trying to obtain confidential information from a judge in exchange for career privileges and serving this sentence by wearing an electronic tag on his ankle.

In Sarkozy’s isolation unit at La Santé prison in Paris, which has in the past housed leftist militant Carlos the Jackal and Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, inmates are kept in single cells and separated during outdoor events for security reasons.

Conditions are similar to the rest of the prison: Cells are 100 to 130 square meters in size and, after renovations, now include private showers.

Sarkozy will have access to television and landline telephone for a monthly fee of 14 euros.

The decision to jail the former president sparked outrage among Sarkozy’s political allies and the far right.

Sarkozy left his home with his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy to go to La Sante Prison to be sentenced to 5 years in prison.

In Sarkozy’s isolation unit at La Santé prison in Paris, which has in the past housed leftist militant Carlos the Jackal and Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, inmates are kept in single cells and separated during outdoor events for security reasons.

People gather outside the home of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Tuesday, October 21, 2025

However, the decision reflects a change in France’s approach to white-collar crime following reforms introduced under the previous Socialist government.

In the 1990s and 2000s, many convicted politicians avoided prison altogether.

To counter the perception of impunity, French judges are increasingly issuing ‘provisional execution’ orders, which require sentences to begin immediately even while appeals are pending, legal experts and politicians told Reuters.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has also been barred from running under the same ‘provisional execution’ provision, pending an appeal early next year.

According to an October 1 Elabe poll for BFM TV, 58 percent of French people believe the decision was impartial and 61 percent support the decision to send Sarkozy to prison pending appeal.

President Emmanuel Macron, who has warm relations with Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni, said on Monday that he met with Sarkozy before he went to prison.

Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, who is close to Sarkozy, told France Inter radio that he would go and visit the former president.