Court frees ex-French president Sarkozy from jail pending appeal

Sarkozy

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was on Monday ordered to be released from prison pending an appeal hearing over alleged Libyan campaign funding.

During a court session earlier in the day, prosecutors supported the 70-year-old’s request for release after he had spent 20 days in jail, a period the former president described as a “nightmare.”

A lower court in September found the right-wing politician, who served as head of state from 2007 to 2012, guilty of seeking funding from Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya for his 2007 presidential campaign and sentenced him to five years in prison.

He began serving his sentence on October 21, becoming the first former head of an EU member state to be incarcerated. Punch