LES ARCS, France — Democracy is hardly flawless in France, but people take it seriously. Nicolas Sarkozy, the flamboyant president who left office in 2012, is locked up in isolation on a five-year sentence at the grim 19th-century La Santé Prison in Paris.
His crime was a “corruption pact” with Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi in 2007 for soliciting campaign funds. How much money changed hands, if any, is unclear. But in a country that adheres to the rule of law, intent is enough.
The few measly millions involved are chump change compared to America, where a twice-impeached, convicted-felon president has come back to weaponize justice, persecute the prosecutors who held him to account and swell his personal fortune.
Sarkozy’s rap sheet is complex. He was convicted in 2021 in two separate trials for bribery and campaign financing that roughly doubled France’s strict $26 million limit. Rather than prison, he was confined at home with an ankle bracelet.
“Sarko” is the first former French president to end up behind bars since Philippe Pétain was convicted of treason in 1945 for collaborating with Nazi Germany.
Jacques Chirac had immunity as president. But after he left office in 2007, he was prosecuted for embezzlement during his term as mayor of Paris. When finally sentenced to two years in prison, he was released at age 79 because of poor health.
Sarkozy went defiantly to jail, holding hands with Carla Bruni, his Italian model and songwriter wife, awaiting an appeal. He had bitter words for the judge but also what he said was a judicial system exploited by his political enemies.
Reaction divided France at a crucial time as democratic institutions are under fire across the world.
An editorial in the authoritative daily, Le Monde, captured the essence. Expressing anger at a court is a normal human response, it said. But cursing justice and throwing the verdict into the public sphere is irresponsible.
“The death threats targeted at the presiding judge were not only ‘inadmissible,’ as the president of the republic belatedly said, but also troubling,” Le Monde said. “... (Sarkozy’s) reaction is fueling a disastrous Trumpization of French debate.”
It detailed Donald Trump’s assaults on the justice system to silence his opponents and undermine the workings of democracy.
“This is a warning that Nicolas Sarkozy has no desire to hear,” Le Monde said. “... Yet the principle of the separation of powers is not some historical curiosity. Its foundation, the idea that one power unchecked by another becomes dangerous, is a burning issue.”
For decades, French politicians from the top on down slimed through scandals with impunity. Presidents ruled like elected monarchs. In the 1970s, Valery Giscard d’Estaing faced no charges for accepting diamonds from an African despot, his hunting buddy.
But recently, more muscular courts have patiently collected evidence with a system of investigating magistrates who pursue cases until they are rock solid.
Sarkozy’s charge was egregious. Qaddafi was a corrupt dictator responsible for blowing up a French DC-10 flight from Chad, killing 54 Frenchmen among the 170 dead. As president, Sarkozy welcomed him on an elaborate state visit.
But the law applies to lesser charges.
Marine Le Pen was convicted in March of diverting about $5 million of European Parliament funds to her National Rally party. Her four-year prison sentence was suspended. But, barred from office for five years, she cannot run for president in 2027.
Sarkozy’s and Le Pen’s judgments may be reversed or reduced on appeal. But it is the thought that counts.
BBC’s Hugh Schofield, a long-time France watcher, reflects my own thoughts on Sarkozy. He said some see truth in Sarkozy’s claim of victimization by the “politico-mediatic-judicial” establishment, which loathes Sarkozy and rejoices at his downfall.
But he continued:
“Look through another lens, though. Sarkozy is not some hard-done-by ex-head of state, but an egotistical and highly influential political operator who has consistently pushed the law to its limits in order to get his way.
“Why else would there be such a litany of lawsuits against him? Why else would Sarkozy already have been convicted on two other charges of corruption – once for trying to suborn a judge, and another time for illegal campaign funding?”
Like Trump, Sarkozy pushed limits and cut legal corners, declaring himself innocent to all charges, sometimes in heated exchanges with judges. Headed to prison, he said bedside reading would include “The Count of Monte Cristo” about a man done wrong.
In 2020, he and some friends bought a 750-acre estate with a grand chateau amid olive groves and vineyards. He flew down with his wife every two months, where he spoke out loudly on French politics and worked on a book. For now, that is on indefinite hold.
As Le Monde said, “Attacks on political integrity ... constitute a serious form of insecurity for the social pact. The court decisions that condemn them do not.” Democracy only works when no one is above the law.
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