PARIS, October 21. /TASS/. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who served from 2007 to 2012, has been taken to Paris’s La Sante prison to begin serving his five-year sentence over the Libyan funding of his 2007 election campaign, a TASS correspondent reported from the scene.
The car carrying Sarkozy entered the prison grounds, with the former president accompanied by his lawyers. Earlier reports said he would be placed in an 11-square-meter solitary confinement cell with no natural light. The room is equipped with a small television set, while the use of cell phones will be strictly prohibited.
Crowds of demonstrators gathered near Sarkozy’s home before his departure for prison, applauding as he left. According to a TASS correspondent, hundreds of people took part in the rally. The crowd sang the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, and chanted slogans such as "Justice!", "Sarkozy is our president!" and "Nicolas!"
French Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin is expected to visit La Sante to personally check that the conditions of Sarkozy’s detention comply with legal standards.
Police cordoned off the streets surrounding the prison and prevented supporters and journalists from approaching the facility.
La Sante is the only penitentiary still operating within the French capital. Built in 1867 to a design by architect Emile Vaudremer, it is located in Paris’s 14th arrondissement. During World War II, members of the French Resistance and communists were imprisoned there. Among its notable inmates were French officer Alfred Dreyfus, wrongfully accused of treason in favor of Germany and held at La Sante before being sent to penal servitude in French Guiana in 1895, and French writer and playwright Jean Genet. The prison currently holds international terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, known as Carlos the Jackal, who is serving a life sentence.