Two prisoners are appearing in court in Paris today for death threats and complicity against former French President Nicolas Sarkozy on the first day of his detention, the prosecutor's office announced, quoted by Agence France-Presse, writes BTA.
Ilies B. is accused of having "threatened to kill" Sarkozy repeatedly, with repeated statements such as "he (Sarkozy) will have a bad time in prison" and "we will avenge Gaddafi, we know everything about Sarko".
These threats, through "video recorded on a phone", were distributed on TikTok, the prosecutor's office specified. This is a crime punishable by three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros.
The same prisoner is also accused of "having possessed and used, knowingly, a mobile phone which he knew had been obtained" as a result of "illegally transferring an object to a detainee". For this he could receive up to five years in prison.
Ange O. is accused of complicity "by aiding or abetting the making of death threats against Sarkozy" by "allowing the use of his mobile phone to record and distribute the video containing the threats".
He is also facing three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros. He is also accused of illegal possession of a mobile phone and of refusing to provide the phone's codes "as part of a preliminary investigation", for which he could receive up to 3 years in prison and a fine of up to 270,000 euros.
Three prisoners from the Paris prison "Sante" were detained on Wednesday after a video clip, apparently filmed by an inmate, was circulated on social media, in which threats were made against Sarkozy, who had arrived at the prison the day before. The former head of state was sentenced on September 25 to five years in prison for participation in a criminal group, a sentence accompanied by temporary detention, for allowing his relatives to approach the regime of Muammar Gaddafi to finance his victorious campaign in 2007.
Sarkozy appealed the sentence, but has been in prison since Tuesday, which is a precedent for former presidents of the French Republic.