France: Sarkozy granted conditional release
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been released from prison after around three weeks behind bars. A Paris court approved the 70-year-old's request for release pending appeal. Sarkozy described his time in prison as "very tough". He was convicted at the end of September in a trial over illegal campaign financing, but had lodged an appeal.
No special treatment for the ex-president
The former president should keep a low profile, Libération recommends:
“We would prefer it if Sarkozy spared us the photos of his homecoming and the intimate insights into what must have been a trying experience. In short, he should exercise restraint, even if that is not the most likely option given that he seems determined to use the media spotlight to portray himself as both a victim and a fighter, and thus influence the appeal trial. ... There was no reason to rejoice at seeing Sarkozy have to sleep in prison. But there is also no reason not to treat him like any other person who has been found guilty and given a jail sentence. ... That is exactly what the French people expect from the justice system.”
Stations of a legal ordeal
This news can only deepen the already growing mistrust of the judiciary, Le Figaro concludes:
“The court ruled that 'pre-trial detention was not justified'. So why was it justified three weeks ago? How can this detention, which has enormous symbolic significance, not be seen as yet another chapter in the eternal conflict between the judiciary and politics? ... The successive stages of Nicolas Sarkozy's legal ordeal reveal a concentration of resources, uncompromising persistence and flexibility in argumentation that can only fuel doubts about the fairness of the judiciary, if not suspicions of a personal, political and ideological vendetta. ... The French people have lost their trust in the system and fear arbitrariness.”
Unprecedented vulnerability
La Stampa wonders whether Sarkozy's impressions could prompt a rethink:
“It is unlikely that Nicolas Sarkozy's unprecedented vulnerability, revealed yesterday through his experiences in prison, will be able to change the minds of his political friends, who are determined to create ever more prison facilities as a quick fix for the problems of French society. To prevent this from influencing the judges in the appeal proceedings, the former president has been banned from having any contact with the current Justice Minister, Gérald Darmanin. ... That's a pity. Because listening to this first-hand account of Sarkozy's twenty days in La Santé prison could have been useful for a Minister of Justice who claims to want the immediate execution of all sentences handed down, without mercy.”