The Paris Appeals Court will decide Monday whether former president Nicolas Sarkozy can be released from prison while he appeals a five‑year sentence for seeking alleged Libyan campaign funds. He entered custody on 21 October and is again presumed innocent while the appeal is pending. Judges will assess whether detention is still necessary to protect evidence, witnesses or public safety; if not, he could be freed under judicial supervision or placed under house arrest with an electronic anklet. The case has sparked controversy over his treatment in custody and wider questions about political figures facing criminal convictions.
Sarkozy's Fate: Appeals Court to Rule on Release Pending Libyan-Funding Appeal
The Paris Appeals Court will decide Monday whether former president Nicolas Sarkozy can be released from prison while he appeals a five‑year sentence for seeking alleged Libyan campaign funds. He entered custody on 21 October and is again presumed innocent while the appeal is pending. Judges will assess whether detention is still necessary to protect evidence, witnesses or public safety; if not, he could be freed under judicial supervision or placed under house arrest with an electronic anklet. The case has sparked controversy over his treatment in custody and wider questions about political figures facing criminal convictions.
11:10 AM, 11/10/2025Politics
Sarkozy's Fate: Appeals Court to Rule on Release Pending Libyan-Funding Appeal
A Paris appeals court is due to hear a request on Monday to release former French president Nicolas Sarkozy from prison while he awaits the outcome of his appeal against a conviction linked to alleged Libyan campaign financing.
Sarkozy, 70, was sentenced in September to five years in prison after a trial court found he had sought funds from Muammar Gaddafi's Libya for his 2007 presidential campaign. He entered custody on 21 October, becoming the first former head of state of an EU country to be jailed in modern times, and his legal team immediately sought his provisional release pending appeal.
The Paris Appeals Court will examine the request from 08:30 GMT, with Sarkozy appearing by video link; judges are expected to issue a decision during the day. If they grant the motion, he could be released immediately. The lower court had ordered him to begin serving his sentence despite his appeal, citing the "exceptional gravity" of the conviction.
Because the case is now on appeal, Sarkozy is again presumed innocent and the appeals judges must decide whether continued pre-trial detention is still justified. Under French law, detention may be maintained only if no other measures can safeguard evidence, prevent witness interference, stop flight or reoffending, or protect the defendant's safety. If these conditions are not met, he could be released under judicial supervision or placed under house arrest with an electronic anklet.
Since his incarceration he has spent more than two weeks in solitary confinement, although two bodyguards have been accommodated in a neighbouring cell for his protection. Prison officials criticised the arrangement as an affront to their profession, while Interior Minister Laurent Nunez defended it as necessary given Sarkozy's status and reported threats. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin's recent prison visit also drew criticism from the country's chief prosecutor, who warned it risked undermining judicial independence ahead of the appeal.
Sarkozy has faced a string of legal challenges since losing the 2012 election and has been convicted previously. He served part of a sentence for corruption-related offences under house arrest with an electronic tag, which was later removed. Separately, France's highest court is set to rule later this month on other allegations of illegal campaign financing dating from 2012.
In the so-called "Libyan case," prosecutors say aides acting for Sarkozy struck a deal with Gaddafi in 2005 to obtain illegal campaign funds; investigators contend Gaddafi expected support to rehabilitate his international image after Libya was implicated in several deadly aircraft bombings in the late 1980s. The trial court convicted Sarkozy of criminal conspiracy related to that plan but did not find proof that he personally received or spent Libyan funds on his campaign.
What to watch: whether judges consider detention still necessary under the legal criteria, and whether Sarkozy is released under judicial control, placed under house arrest with an electronic tag, or ordered to remain in custody pending the appeals process.