Sarkozy gets hero’s welcome as he unveils prison memoir

Paris - Nicolas Sarkozy, modern France’s first-ever president to have gone to jail, received a hero’s welcome from hundreds of supporters on Dec 10 as he unveiled a book about his 20-day prison experience.

The 70-year-old politician, who remains an influential figure on the right, signed copies of his 216-page Diary of a Prisoner (Le journal d’un prisonnier) at a bookstore in the French capital’s chic 16th district after taking a quick walkabout, protected by a large police cordon.

Hundreds of people stood in a long, snaking line under the grey Parisian sky outside the Lamartine bookstore to greet the former president and get his autograph.

“Nicolas! Nicolas!” some shouted as Sarkozy shook hands with several enthusiastic fans.

Mr Benjamin Haddad, Europe Minister and elected representative of the district, was present for the occasion.

Women from radical feminist activist group Femen sought to interrupt the gathering but were arrested by the police, according to images posted on social media.

“Nicolas, get lost, you poor idiot!” two bare-chested women activists shouted. “You belong in prison!”

Sarkozy, who was in office from 2007 to 2012, was found guilty in September of seeking illegal funding from Moamer Kadhafi’s Libya for the campaign that saw him elected French president.

He was sentenced to five years behind bars, but left La Sante prison in Paris after serving just 20 days, after a judge ordered his release pending appeal.

The book debuted one month after the former head of state was released on bail on Nov 10.

It is published by Fayard, controlled by right-wing billionaire Vincent Bollore, who is seen as exercising a growing influence on French media and politics.

Praise and barbs

Greyness and solitude marked Sarkozy’s time in prison, he wrote.

He recounted how he knelt down to pray on the first day of his incarceration.

“I prayed for the strength to bear the cross of this injustice.”

Sarkozy did not spare President Emmanuel Macron, writing that their relationship has become strained since “his disastrous decision” to dissolve the National Assembly in 2024.

“I did not understand, much less accept, what I considered to be a whim that was as harmful to France as it was to its author,” he wrote.

When Mr Macron received Sarkozy before his incarceration, he said he “had little desire for a friendly discussion with him”.

The former president also recounted a telephone conversation after his conviction with far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whose party senses its best ever chance of winning in the 2027 presidential elections.

She asked him if he would join forces with a “republican front” of parties in an effort to contain the far right if early elections were held.

He said he replied: “No, and what’s more, I will take responsibility for this by taking a public position on the subject when the time comes.”

Ms Le Pen’s National Rally party is “not a danger” for France, he wrote.

“They represent so many French people, respect the results of the elections and participate in the functioning of our democracy.”

Sarkozy also took a swipe at his own political family, pointing to the lack of public engagement on the part of conservative Republicans party head Bruno Retailleau, who “called me regularly, but did nothing more publicly”.

‘Last great president’

Sarkozy’s prison stint and litany of legal problems have done nothing to dampen his admirers’ enthusiasm.

“I think this is an important moment, given that he is the only president, or at least the first and hopefully the last president of the Fifth Republic, to have gone to prison,” said Virgile Dodeigne, an 18-year-old high school student.

Mr Erwan Lecomte, 20, called Sarkozy “the last great president of the Republic”.

“I’d like to tell him that he’s not alone,” he added. “We are against the injustice he has experienced.”

Ms Gabrielle Talhouet, 83, praised Sarkozy’s “integrity”.

“His presidency was ultimately a very positive moment in French history,” she said. AFP