The Downfall: He Once Ran France, Now He Sleeps In A Cell And Gets One Hour In The Yard

When a erstwhile caput of authorities gets hauled into a situation cell, it’s not conscionable a slip-up, it’s a seismic shift. That’s nan lawsuit pinch Nicolas Sarkozy, erstwhile President of France (2007-2012), now an inmate astatine La Santé Prison successful Paris, serving a five-year condemnation for criminal conspiracy involving alleged run costs from Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya. 

Sarkozy is nan first French ex-president to spell to jailhouse since Philippe Pétain successful 1945, who later died successful detention.

Sarkozy insists he’s an ‘innocent man

Sarkozy arrived astatine La Santé connected Tuesday, October 21, amid dense security, critics and supporters alike swirling. He denies wrongdoing, calling nan verdict a “judicial scandal,” but nan tribunal recovered nan grounds of bonzer gravity, fundamentally telling nan nation: nary 1 is supra nan law. 

Inside his compartment he’ll find himself isolated, pinch 1 hr successful nan gait each day, a mini TV and a desk. The punishment? As overmuch symbolic arsenic punitive. “It is not a erstwhile president they are locking up this morning, it is an guiltless man,” he posted connected X. 

He’s not nan only leader who’s gone to prison

Sarkozy’s autumn isn’t an isolated event. In Spain, Oriol Junqueras, a erstwhile Catalan deputy-president, was sentenced successful 2019 to 13 years for sedition and misuse of nationalist costs aft nan independency referendum. 

In Germany, Egon Krenz, nan past leader of East Germany, was jailed for manslaughter and electoral fraud successful 1997.  What they stock pinch Sarkozy is this: powerfulness didn’t protect them. 

Why does this matter?

For French democracy  and European politics, this is simply a seismic moment. The condemnation ties a erstwhile awesome leader to a overseas autocrat, shaking nationalist spot and refocusing attraction connected run finance transparency. As 1 ineligible expert put it, according to The Guardian: “The facts are of exceptional gravity and apt to undermine citizens’ trust.” 

It’s besides astir accountability. As caller polls show, a mostly of French citizens judge nan determination was fair. A erstwhile president, touted for his charisma, tough-talk, world swagger is now navigating situation corridors.

Supporters gathered extracurricular his Paris villa, shouting slogans, pinch solidarity banners held aloft. His sons called for calm, his woman stood firm. Behind nan scenes, nan justness curate pledged to sojourn him, and that’s a uncommon motion successful specified circumstances. 

Meanwhile, run finance, overseas interference, and governmental corruption are nether nan spotlight again. If a erstwhile president tin beryllium jailed, nan barroom has been raised.

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