Sarkozy leaves prison in a car with tinted windows, escorted by police

• Nicolas Sarkozy: Former president says prison is ‘extremely tough’ and thanks prison officials for making it ‘nightmare bearable’
• Remember: Sarkozy’s prison was the setting for a cinematic escape in the 1980s

On October 21, Sarkozy became the first French head of state to be arrested since World War II, and the first from a country already in the European Union.

But on the same day, he applied for parole, which is granted by law to people over the age of 70, and the Paris Court of Appeal granted him parole on Monday, despite judicial restrictions and a ban on leaving the country.

During the analysis of the release request a few hours ago, the former president took part in the hearing via video conference and expressed his gratitude to the prison officials who “made this nightmare bearable (…)”.

–That’s very difficult, very difficult. That certainly applies to all detainees. Sarkozy told the court, which was also attended by his wife, singer Carla Bruni, and their two children, an AFP reporter said.

The former president was kept in solitary confinement at a Paris prison, with two police officers stationed in an adjacent cell to guard him.

Lawyer Christophe Inglein said Sarkozy’s stay in prison posed a “threat” to his client. The Public Prosecutor’s Office also supported his release, but judicial regulatory measures were needed.

Mr. Sarkozy was convicted of allowing those close to Muammar Gaddafi, who died in 2011, to obtain resources in Libya and illegally finance his successful 2007 presidential campaign.

Although the proceedings failed to prove that the funds were used “as a last resort,” the court stressed that the funds came from Libya and accused Mr. Sarkozy of illicit association and “the exceptional gravity of the facts.”

The conviction was highly controversial, as the court ordered his arrest without waiting for the outcome of the appeal. “This morning they arrested an innocent man,” he said before entering the prison, denouncing a “judicial scandal” and the “way of the cross.”

The former president can now await his appeal hearing, which is scheduled to begin in March, but he will not be able to contact Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, according to the appeals court’s decision.

Darmanin’s visit to Sarkozy in prison on October 29 caused anxiety among the judges. France’s top prosecutor, Remy Heitz, accused him of “attacking the independence of magistrates”.