Jamuna TV Photo

Source: Jamuna TV

DST News:  Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been convicted of illegally receiving campaign funds from former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. He is set to become the first former president in France’s history to serve a prison sentence, receiving five years behind bars.

Sarkozy’s sentence is being carried out at La Santé Prison in the southern part of Paris, one of France’s most notorious jails. For security reasons, he has been placed in an isolation cell measuring about nine square meters (95 square feet). The cell includes a toilet, shower, desk, and small television, and he is allowed one hour of exercise alone each day.

He arrived at the prison at 10 a.m. (local time), where more than a hundred supporters gathered outside to show their solidarity. Among them were his two sons—Louis (28) and Pierre.

The 70-year-old Sarkozy continues to insist on his innocence, claiming that the case is nothing more than a form of “political revenge.” He has filed an appeal to overturn the sentence, but until the appeal is resolved, he will remain in prison.

Before this, no French leader had been imprisoned since World War II. The last was Philippe Pétain, convicted in 1945 for collaborating with the Nazis. Going further back in history, King Louis XVI was imprisoned in 1793 before his execution.