French former President Nicolas Sarkozy had barely been installed in his cell in the high-security La Santé prison in Paris when he started receiving death threats, prompting two police officers from the VIP Protection Service to move into the cell next door, officials said. The 70-year-old began a five-year sentence on Tuesday for conspiring to accept laundered cash from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, and reportedly spent a “frightening” first night in custody as an online video showed another inmate shouting that he would “avenge Gaddafi” and demanding “Give back the billions of dollars.”
On Wednesday, a source at the interior ministry confirmed to The Independent that the SDLP officers were occupying the adjacent cell “24 hours a day.”
Éric Ciotti, president of Sarkozy’s party, Les Républicains, called the threats “intolerable” and said security must be absolute: “The safety of a former head of state cannot be left to chance—we expect the state to act decisively and without delay.” He added that the danger would be amplified by the high-profile nature of the accusations and the names invoked online.
Carla Bruni, Sarkozy’s wife, spoke with him by phone from the prison and, through lawyers, said she was “deeply concerned for his safety.”
The online video also references Ziad Takieddine, a former Lebanese arms dealer linked in allegations to Gaddafi and Sarkozy. inmates in the clip name both men and accuse them of owing money, escalating fears that the former president could face targeted hostility behind bars.
Sarkozy, who has consistently denied wrongdoing, remains the first former French president in modern history to serve time in prison.
