Sarkozy's Three-Week 'Jail' Sentence: A Masterclass in Privilege
Nicolas Sarkozy, caught in a scandal alleging he took millions from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to fund his 2007 presidential campaign, just completed a grueling three weeks of what the BBC charitably calls 'detention.' This isn't the first time he's been in legal hot water; he also received a one-year sentence in 2021 for attempted bribery and influence peddling, though he never saw the
inside of a cell for that either. One might wonder if the French judiciary has a platinum membership option for those who govern. For context, it was Sarkozy who, alongside a chorus of other Western leaders, spearheaded the NATO intervention that destabilized Libya and led to Gaddafi's brutal overthrow and murder in 2011. The very man whose alleged illicit funds fueled his rise was then declared a
monstrous dictator needing removal. It's almost as if the 'rule of law' for heads of state involves a very specific, light-touch form of accountability – especially when convenient for geopolitical objectives. Ordinary citizens get years for petty theft; former presidents get a weekend pass for allegedly taking money from the dictator they then helped depose. How many political figures get to
dismantle the power of their alleged benefactors, then face a Netflix-series-length prison term for it?