French ex-president Sarkozy begins jail sentence for campaign finance conspiracy
French ex-president Sarkozy begins jail sentence for campaign finance conspiracy11 hours agoShareSavePaul KirbyEurope digital editor andHugh Schofieldin ParisShareSaveWatch: Sarkozy was cheered by supporters as he embraced his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy outside their Paris homeNicolas Sarkozy has become the first French ex-president to go to jail, as he starts a five-year sentence for conspiring to fund his election campaign with money from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Not since World War Two Nazi collaborationist leader Philippe Pétain was jailed for treason in 1945 has any French ex-leader gone behind bars.
Sarkozy, who was president from 2007-2012, has appealed against his jail term at La Santé prison, where he will occupy a small cell in the its isolation wing.
More than 100 people applauded and shouted “Nicolas!” as he left his villa in the exclusive 16th district of Paris, holding his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy by the hand.
His son Louis, 28, had appealed to supporters for a..
