Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy benefited from early release, three weeks after serving a five-year prison sentence for participation in a criminal conspiracy.
He will be subject to strict judicial control and prohibited from leaving France.
Sarkozy’s car was seen leaving La Santé prison in Paris shortly before 3:00 p.m. (14:00 GMT), less than an hour and a half after a court accepted his early release.
On October 21, the 70-year-old former center-right president was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiring to finance his 2007 election campaign with money from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
His lawyers immediately filed a request for release, pending an appeal trial next March.
One of the conditions of Sarkozy’s release is that he not contact any Justice Ministry employees. During his incarceration, he received a visit from the Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin.
The visit prompted 30 French lawyers to file a complaint against Darmanin, highlighting what they see as a conflict of interest, with Darmanin being a former colleague and friend of Sarkozy.
Speaking to a Paris court via video link, Sarkozy described his time in solitary confinement as “exhausting” and “a nightmare”.
Prosecutor Damien Brunet recommended that Sarkozy’s request for release be granted, but that the former president be barred from contacting other witnesses in the so-called “Libyan case.”
Sarkozy, who has always denied any wrongdoing, told the court via video link that he never had the “crazy idea” of asking Gaddafi for money and said he would “never admit to something I didn’t do.”
Sarkozy also paid tribute to prison staff who made his stay in prison “bearable”. “They showed exceptional humanity,” he said.
Sarkozy’s wife, singer and model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and two of the former president’s sons were in the courtroom to support him.
Sarkozy is the first former French leader put behind bars since Nazi collaborationist leader Philippe Pétain was jailed for treason in 1945.
Since entering prison, Sarkozy has been held in a cell in the isolation wing.
He had a toilet, a shower, a desk, a small electric hob and a small television – for which he paid a monthly fee of €14 (£12) – and the right to a small fridge.
He also had the right to receive information from the outside world and family visits as well as written and telephone contact – but he was in solitary confinement in force. He was only allowed one hour a day to exercise, alone in the wing’s separate courtyard.
Two bodyguards were stationed in neighboring cells, which Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez had designated because of Sarkozy’s status. There was “obviously a threat against him,” Nuñez said.
Sarkozy was president from 2007 to 2012. Since leaving office, he has been dogged by criminal investigations and had to wear an electronic tag around his ankle for months after being convicted last December of trying to bribe a magistrate to obtain confidential information about another case.
