Two police officers have moved into the prison cell next door to former French president Nicolas Sarkozy following threats to kill him, it has emerged.
The dramatic development followed the 70-year-old spending a “frightening” first night in La Sante, the high-security jail in Paris.
He was incarcerated on Tuesday, following a five-year sentence for conspiring to accept laundered cash from the late Libyan dictator, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
Within hours, a video appeared online in which a fellow inmate shouts: “We’re going to avenge Gaddafi, we know everything, Sarko … we know everything. Give back the billions of dollars.”
On Wednesday, a source at France’s Interior Ministry confirmed they had ordered two officers from the VIP Protection Service, the SDLP, to occupy the “cell next door to the former president’s for 24 hours a day”.
This led to Eric Ciotti, president of Sarkozy’s conservative party, The Republicans, expressing his concerns about death threats.
Mr Ciotti said: “It is completely legitimate that the security of a former President of the Republic be ensured everywhere, at all times, in all locations.
“Especially since the threats against him will be much greater in the circles he finds himself in.
“I saw images of him being threatened with death upon his arrival. His security must be guaranteed.
“This incarceration is a terrible ordeal for his family. I think of the ordeal they are going through.”
Carla Bruni, Sarkozy’s third wife, has already spoken to him in prison, via a cell landline, lawyers for Sarkozy confirmed, saying his first night was “frightening”.
One of them, Jean-Michel Darrois, explained: “I saw him in the visiting room, we stayed together for a long time.
“He is the man everyone knows – strong, dynamic, a fighter. He has brought two books to read: The Count of Monte Cristo (the novel by Alexandre Dumas) about revenge, and The Life of Jesus Christ, about the resurrection.”
The video posted online refers to Sarkozy, and also to Ziad Takieddine, a former Lebanese arms dealer who died in mysterious circumstances earlier this year while on the run from accusations that he was the middleman between Gaddafi and Sarkozy.
An unidentified inmate in La Sante shouts: “Sarko, he’s right there, in an isolated area.
“He’s all alone in his cell. He just arrived, Tuesday, October 20, 2025 – he’s going to have a bad time.
“Right next to it, there’s solitary confinement below – it’s solitary confinement, he’s just above.
“And we know everything – we’re going to avenge Gaddafi. We know everything, Sarko, Ziad Takieddine, we know everything. Give back the billions of dollars.”
It was in 2011 that RAF and French Air Force jets led the mass bombing campaign that ended with Gaddafi being beaten to death by a mob.
David Cameron was British prime minister at the time, and visited Libya with Sarkozy.
There have been claims that Sarkozy wanted his old friend and ally dead because of his potential to produce incriminating evidence.
Sarkozy kissed former supermodel Carla Bruni goodbye outside their £5m Paris townhouse on Tuesday morning before he was driven to La Sante.
He was checked into the notorious jail at 9.40am, as other inmates mocked him by chanting “Welcome Sarko!” and “Sarkozy’s here!”
Sarkozy was found guilty of accepting millions in illegal cash from Gaddafi, so as to win office for five years, between 2007 and 2012.
He is currently serving a five-year term, but has also been convicted for two earlier offences, while facing further criminal enquiries.
Those who have spent time at La Sante – which means health – include notorious terrorists and armed robbers such as Carlos the Jackal (Ilich Ramírez Sanchez) and armed robber, Jacques Mesrine.
Sarkozy is now the first French head of state to go to a prison cell since Marshal Philippe Pétain, the wartime Nazi collaborator.
Sarkozy will spend most of his time alone in a 29-foot-square cell equipped with a shower, bed, small desk, a landline phone, and TV, which will cost him the equivalent of £13 a month to watch.
He will be allowed one solitary walk a day alone, in a small yard, but will not have a mobile phone.
Sarkozy used to be the interior minister in France, when his tough policies gained him the nickname “Le Top Cop”.
He once claimed that young offender “scum” on housing estates should be “blown away with a power hose”.
Such a background makes him an extremely vulnerable prisoner.
Christophe Ingrain, another Sarkozy lawyer, said he was appealing against having to go to prison, but it will be at least a month before the appeal is heard.
Mr Ingrain said: “He is taking it upon himself to ensure that no one can feel the indignation and anger he feels at suffering this injustice. Humanly, this is an extremely difficult ordeal.”
Sarkozy has also been found guilty of trying to bribe a judge and illicit campaign funding, following separate trials.
Carla Bruni is herself accused of being part of a £4m campaign dubbed “Operation Save Sarko” – a complex and illegal plan to try to keep her husband out of jail.
She has been charged with a range of corruption offences, including “witness tampering in an organised gang”, and could be imprisoned for up to 10 years if found guilty in a separate trial.
Like her husband, Ms Bruni denies any wrongdoing.
