By Dominique Vidalon and Geert De Clercq
PARIS (Reuters) -Carla Bruni, the former top model and singer-songwriter wife of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, stood by her man on Thursday after he was sentenced to five years in jail for criminal conspiracy over dealings with Libya.
“Love is the answer,” Bruni wrote on social platform Instagram, with the hashtag “hate will not win”.
The sentence was harsher than expected, and a first in modern French political history. Sarkozy, who led France in 2007-2012, will be the first former French president to serve time in jail even if he appeals, which he said he would do.
Bruni, 57, stood by his side as Sarkozy, 70, made a speech after the verdict, protesting his innocence and saying: “If they absolutely want me to sleep in jail, I will sleep in jail, but with my head held high.”
As they walked to the car that would whisk them away to their gated community residence in Paris’ posh 16th district, Bruni grabbed the red cover over the microphone of investigative reporting website Mediapart and threw it on the ground.
Investigative judges launched a probe in 2013 after Mediapart published what it said was a note from Libyan intelligence services, dated December 2006, that mentioned an alleged deal with that country’s then-ruler, Muammar Gaddafi, to help finance Sarkozy’s presidential race.
WHIRLWIND ROMANCE
Sarkozy married Bruni – his third wife – after a whirlwind romance at the start of his presidential mandate in 2008, just months after a very public breakup with his second wife Cecilia.
Sarkozy and Bruni have a daughter together, born in 2011.
Italian-born Bruni added showbiz and fashion glamour to Sarkozy’s presidency, accompanying him on a state visit to Britain, posing in a red dress on the roof of the Elysee palace and writing the song “Mon Raymond” about him, in which she calls him “a pirate with a necktie” who never gives up.
Although Sarkozy is her first husband, Bruni has described herself as a “man tamer” and has had a number of affairs with intellectuals and rock stars, including Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, and has a son from a previous relationship.
Despite his years-long legal troubles, Sarkozy has remained a respected statesman and mentor for politicians on France’s right, including new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, who soon after his appointment this month sought Sarkozy’s advice.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon and Geert De ClercqEditing by Gareth Jones)
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