Two law enforcement officials accompanied former French President Nicolas Sarkozy throughout his first night in prison, staying in a neighboring cell for his safety, in accordance to the nation’s inside minister.
Laurent Nuñez confirmed that the former president, who’s serving a five-year sentence after being found guilty of prison conspiracy, would proceed to obtain safety in jail on account of his standing and “given the threats he faces.”
The minister, who was talking Wednesday to radio station Europe 1, added that the security measures would stay in impact “as long as it is deemed necessary.”
“I’m in charge of the security of individuals, of high-ranking officials,” Nuñez mentioned as he defined that it was his resolution to prolong Sarkozy’s safety whereas he serves his sentence.
“It was a decision aimed at ensuring his security in addition, obviously, to everything implemented by the prison administration,” he added.
Nicolas Peyrin, deputy secretary common of the jail guards’ union, instructed NCS affiliate BFMTV that the extra safety offered for the former president was not wanted. “I don’t see why the interior ministry would intervene in detention matters,” he mentioned. “We already know how to do it very well.”
Sarkozy’s lawyer, Jean-Michel Darrois, spoke to BFMTV on Tuesday night time and insisted that his consumer had obtained no particular remedy.
“He is in a nine-meter-squared (nearly 97-square-foot) cell, there is noise all the time. All the prisoners make noise, they shout, they bang on the walls,” Darrois mentioned. “In principle, given the positions he has held, he should have a different status. He didn’t ask for it, so he doesn’t have it,” he added.
Leaving the jail after a go to on Wednesday morning, one other of Sarkozy’s attorneys, Christophe Ingrain, declined to present journalists with a touch upon Sarkozy’s police protections.
Sarkozy was sentenced final month for prison conspiracy for his position in a scheme to finance his 2007 presidential marketing campaign with funds from Libya in trade for diplomatic favors.
The former president, who left workplace in 2012, has appealed his conviction however in the meantime is predicted to occupy a cell both in solitary confinement or in the so-called “VIP wing” of La Santé jail complicated.
That wing is often reserved for prisoners who’re thought of unsuitable to be stored among the many jail’s common inhabitants, often out of fears for his or her security.
Sarkozy is allowed three visits per week, with one having already been utilized by his spouse, singer and mannequin Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who visited her husband on Tuesday, BFMTV reported.
Darrois revealed that, on his first day in jail, the ex-president devoted a while to exercising, in addition to beginning to write his e book. The lawyer mentioned Sarkozy’s concern was not with himself, however his family members. “If he’s worried about anything, it’s his family,” he mentioned.
Guillaume Sarkozy, the brother of the former chief, instructed BFMTV: “I am proud that we share the same name. I am proud that he is going to prison with his head held high, and I am totally convinced of his innocence.”
Cecilia Laurent Monpetit contributed to this report.