Will Nicolas Sarkozy regain his freedom after twenty days in prison? The Paris Court of Appeal, Monday morning, November 10, examined the request for the release of the former French president who was jailed after he was convicted in the Libyan funding case for his presidential campaign.
Filed by his lawyer in the minutes after he was detained in Santé prison in Paris on October 21, the request will be heard from 09:30. The former president must appear via video conference and a decision must be taken by noon, according to judicial sources.
If he gets a favorable response from the court, Nicolas Sarkozy, 70, could be released soon. He was jailed for his sentence of five years in prison with an execution warrant accompanied by provisional execution for criminal conspiracy in a trial in Libya, an unprecedented detention for a former president in the history of the French Republic and has sparked heated debate.
It is also a first in the European Union, where no former head of state has been jailed. On September 25, a Paris criminal court found him guilty of deliberately allowing his collaborators to approach Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya to solicit secret funding for his victorious 2007 presidential campaign. He immediately appealed.
More than a sentence, the arrest warrant that sent him to prison, without appeal, is something that raises eyebrows. For the judge, this was justified by “Amazing Gravity” fact. For Nicolas Sarkozy, he is motivated by “hate”.
The intended release criteria
However, for an acquittal application, an appellate court judge will not rely on the same criteria as for a commitment order. Nicolas Sarkozy’s appeal places his detention within the criteria for pre-trial detention, which is different from the criteria for executing a sentence. According to article 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, further detention of a person is only possible if he“just means” to protect evidence, to prevent pressure or consultation, to prevent leakage or recurrence, or to protect it.
Otherwise, Nicolas Sarkozy should be released under court supervision, possibly under house arrest with an electronic bracelet.
While in prison, the former president was placed in solitary confinement, but two security officers were placed in a neighboring cell. Provisions are justified by “status” and it “threats haunt him”according to the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez.
At the end of October, Nicolas Sarkozy received a visit from the Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, an interview that drew criticism, especially from judges. In a rare position, France’s top prosecutor, Rémy Heitz, sees him as a “risk of obstacles to sobriety” and therefore “undermining the independence of judges” before the appeal hearing.
An appeal hearing is expected to take place in March
Among three people sentenced with detention warrants based on a Sept. 25 ruling, the appeals court has released former banker Wahib Nacer, 81, under judicial supervision, but kept middleman Alexandre Djouhri in custody. For the latter, sentenced to six years in prison with immediate detention and a fine of 3 million euros, the court considered that he provided bail. “very weak” facing flight risks.
In his case, justice also took that into consideration “risk of pressure continues” to witnesses in the case, especially Muammar Gaddafi’s former chief of staff, Bechir Saleh, who was convicted in the case and is on the run.
In both cases, President Olivier Géron had previously clarified that in deciding on release requests, “The assessment criteria of the appellate court are certainly different from the assessment criteria of the court of first instance” and that these decisions in no way predicted the outcome of the appeal hearing over which he was to preside.
Highly anticipated, this new trial in Libya will be held starting in March, although the exact date has not yet been officially announced.
