Nicolas Sarkozy's lawyer says he was resigned to jail time, but still wants to 'fight back'

(21 Oct 2025) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Paris - 21 October 2025 1. Tristan Gautier, attorney for Nicolas Sarkozy walking through office conference room 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Tristan Gautier, attorney for Nicolas Sarkozy: "He keeps telling us we will win this war at the end. He wants to fight back. He knows that now he has to go to jail. There is nothing that could be done to avoid this. Now we have applied for his release, but it will take a few weeks to be trialed by the Court of Appeal. We're sure, we're confident that he will go out, but just he has to stay during this period before the hearing. And he's just telling us, 'get me out quickly and then we'll continue to fight.'" 3. Mid of Gautier 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Tristan Gautier, attorney for Nicolas Sarkozy: "From a legal point of view we're sure that he should be released, so effectively it should be between three and five weeks. I don't know if they have other reasons to try to keep him. Maybe we'll have a negative decision, but I think on this point most of the specialists agree that there is no argument here to keep him in jail after this hearing." 5. Close of Gautier writing 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Tristan Gautier, attorney for Nicolas Sarkozy: "It is unusual. Normally this treatment (solitary confinement) is for the guys that are terrorists, the most dangerous guys that are put under custody are placed in solitary confinement: terrorists, big drug trafficking, murderers, it has never been applied to someone like Nicolas Sarkozy, of course there had never been a former president of the Republic in jail, but even for white collar criminal cases, normally you're not placed in this kind of solitary confinement. In this case it was a decision from the French Home Office because they considered that it was the only way to ensure that he could be safe." 7. Mid of Gautier writing 8. SOUNDBITE (English) Tristan Gautier, attorney for Nicolas Sarkozy: "He is alone in his cell and he can meet no one during the day except from a few visits per week from his family or his lawyers, but he has no contact with anyone during the day except for the agents of the prisons that can take him to a one hour walk per day in a court where he's alone also. So it's really complete solitary confinement." 9. Close of Gautier 10. SOUDBITE (English) Tristan Gautier, attorney for Nicolas Sarkozy " "I think the main issue, the main concern was about security, but of course the risk to be photographed was stronger in the vulnerable place (the so called VIP section where they put high value prisoners who need to be away from the general prison population) because even if it's forbidden, some people have mobile phones in jail." 11. Mid of Gautier 12. SOUNDBITE (English) Tristan Gautier, attorney for Nicolas Sarkozy: "I think he asked for nothing. He is just saying this is something 'I have no choice to go through. I have to do it'. Of course he's worried about his security. It's normal and he cannot imagine how it's going to be. But now he's just saying I want to do it. Now that they have decided to put me through this, I want to do it normally and that it ends as quick as possible and it will make me even stronger than before." 13. Gautier leaving room STORYLINE: Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy entered a prison in Paris on Tuesday to begin serving a 5-year sentence for a criminal conspiracy to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya — a historic moment that makes him the first ex-leader of modern France to be imprisoned. Gautier expects it to take between three and five weeks. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...