Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy released early from prison

The judge responsible for the enforcement of sentences at the Paris court approved Sarkozy's request to change the terms of serving his sentence. Since Thursday, May 7, the former president has been free under conditions of parole.

According to the court decision, a politician is not required to wear an electronic bracelet. The main argument for such easing was the age of the former French leader. Sarkozy's lawyers are currently refraining from official comments regarding the end of the prison term.

Execution of the sentence became possible after Nicolas Sarkozy withdrew his appeal against the court's refusal to combine prison terms in different cases. Earlier, he had requested the merger of sentences, but the judiciary did not approve it.

In particular, on March 9, 2026, the court rejected the request of the former French president to combine the sentence in the Bygmalion case with the sentence in the wiretapping case known as "Paul Bismuth affair."

Sarkozy sentence

On September 25, 2025, the Paris court sentenced Nicolas Sarkozy to five years in prison, one of which was suspended. This became the first case in modern French history when former head of state was imprisoned.

According to investigation data, Sarkozy received significant funds from former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for his election campaign in 2005–2007. On other counts, in case of embezzlement of public funds, passive corruption, and violations of election campaign financing rules, Sarkozy was found not guilty.

71-year-old former French president denied all accusations throughout the trial. For this reason, the case dragged on for years, with witness questioning and analysis of bank transactions and documents.

Also, Nicolas Sarkozy received death threats from a prisoner. As part of the investigation, three inmates were questioned, and two mobile phones were seized during a prison search.