Rabat – Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is set to leave prison pending an appeal.
Sarkozy will be under judicial supervision, according to a ruling from the Paris Appeals Court on Monday.
The decision comes three weeks after he began serving his five-year sentence on October 21 regarding his involvement in the Libyan campaign financing case.
Under judicial supervision, Sarkozy will be banned from leaving France. He will also be prohibited from contacting some individuals, including co-defendants and witnesses in his case.
A court sentenced him over a scheme to obtain funds for his 2007 election campaign from late Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi.
However, he denied the accusations against him, appealing the verdict.
The former President’s Lawyers argue there is no legal reason to keep the former president in custody.
During a hearing today, Sarkozy told the court that he had no intention to ask Gaddafi for “any kind of financing… I will never confess to something I didn’t do… I never imagined that at 70 years of age, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal that has been imposed on me. I confess it’s hard, it’s very hard. It leaves a mark on any prisoner, because it’s gruelling.”
He also paid tribute to prison staff, who he described as “exceptionally humane.”
“[They] have made this nightmare bearable, because it is a nightmare,” Sarkozy said.
