PARIS: A close aide to former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has publicly urged current leader Emmanuel Macron to grant him a presidential pardon.
Henri Guaino, who served as a special adviser to Sarkozy, described the situation as exceptionally serious during an interview with broadcaster RTL.
He characterised Sarkozy’s conviction as a humiliation for the French state and its institutions.
A court sentenced the 70-year-old former president to five years in prison on Thursday for a scheme involving late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi funding his 2007 campaign.
Sarkozy becomes the first French postwar leader sentenced to serve actual jail time after being convicted on criminal conspiracy charges.
He must begin serving his prison sentence immediately while awaiting the outcome of his appeal process.
Guaino specifically called upon President Macron to exercise his constitutional power to pardon the former leader.
The former adviser argued that a pardon would not erase the conviction and could be partial in its application.
He suggested that a presidential pardon could potentially eliminate the decision to imprison the former French head of state.
Despite his legal troubles spanning several years, Sarkozy maintains significant influence within French right-wing politics.
The former president has occasionally held private meetings with Macron despite their political differences.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who has her own criminal conviction, strongly criticised Thursday’s court ruling.
She argued on social media platform X that provisional enforcement of the judgment before appeal represents a great danger to legal principles.
Le Pen specifically highlighted the presumption of innocence as being undermined by this procedural approach.
The provisional enforcement mechanism means the first-instance judgement takes effect before the appeal hearing occurs.
In March, a French court convicted Le Pen and other officials from her National Rally party for embezzling European Parliament funds.
That ruling imposed a five-year ban on her standing for public office, which would block her presidential ambitions for 2027.
Le Pen’s appeal trial regarding her own conviction is scheduled to take place in early 2026. – AFP