PARIS: Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy may have mounting legal problems but his status as a top-selling author is not in doubt: his hastily written book about his recent prison experience has sold 100,000 copies in less than a week, according to his publisher.
The 70-year-old turned his three weeks behind bars in October-November into “Diary of a Prisoner” (“Le journal d’un prisonnier“) and has been on a nationwide tour to greet enthusiastic fans.
“’Diary of a Prisoner’ sold 98,610 copies in just a few days after its release in bookstores! A phenomenal number 1,” publisher Fayard wrote on social network X, citing sales figures from market research group NielsenIQ GfK.
The 216-page book recounts Sarkozy’s mundane struggles with noise and low-quality food, but has also made waves for its political message.
The former head of the right-wing Republicans party reveals a conversation with far-right leader Marine Le Pen and hints at a possible alliance between the traditional right-wing and Le Pen’s anti-immigration party.
“The path to rebuilding the right can only happen with the broadest possible spirit of unity, without exclusion and without anathema,” he writes.
Sarkozy was found guilty in September of seeking illegal funding from Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi for the campaign that saw him elected president in 2007.
He was sentenced to five years behind bars, but left La Sante prison in Paris after serving just 20 days, after a judge ordered his release with conditions.
He has been convicted in two other cases, one for illegal campaign financing and another for corruption and influence-peddling.
He and his wife Carla Bruni face another possible trial over allegations that they tried to bribe a key prosecution witness in the Libya campaign financing case with the help of a paparazzi boss.
They deny wrongdoing.
Since his one term in power, Sarkozy has become an influential backroom political player on the French right and a prolific writer of memoirs and books.
Recent offerings include “The Age of Combat” in 2023, “The Age of Storms” in 2020 and “Passions” in 2019.
French readers lap up Sarkozy’s prison diaries
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French readers lap up Sarkozy’s prison diaries
- The 70-year-old turned his three weeks behind bars in October-November into “Diary of a Prisoner“
- “’Diary of a Prisoner’ sold 98,610 copies in just a few days after its release in bookstores!” publisher Fayard wrote on X
UK child killer Ian Huntley dies after prison attack: police
- Huntley murdered 10-year-old girls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in eastern England in 2002
- He suffered serious injuries when he was assaulted at Frankland maximum security prison in the northeastern English city of Durham on Feb. 26
LONDON: One of Britain’s most notorious child killers, Ian Huntley, died on Saturday following an attack in prison where he was serving a life sentence, police said.
Huntley murdered 10-year-old girls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in eastern England in 2002, in a case that horrified the country.
Fifty-two-year-old Huntley suffered serious injuries when he was assaulted at Frankland maximum security prison in the northeastern English city of Durham on Feb. 26.
He “died in hospital this morning,” a spokesperson for the local police force said in a statement emailed to AFP.
A spokesperson for the government’s justice ministry said the double murder of Holly and Jessica “remains one of the most shocking and devastating cases in our nation’s history, and our thoughts are with their families.”
Huntley killed the two best friends after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets in the village of Soham, Cambridgeshire, on Aug. 4 2002.
Their disappearance sparked a massive search involving hundreds of police officers and appeals for help.
A photograph of the two girls wearing matching Manchester United football tops became instantly recognizable to many Britons.
Their bodies were found almost two weeks later, dumped in a ditch several miles away.
Huntley, then a 28-year-old school caretaker, aroused the suspicion of police after he gave media interviews claiming to be concerned for the girls’ welfare.
He denied murdering them but was convicted at trial in 2003.
His girlfriend at the time, Maxine Carr a teaching assistant at the girls’ school, gave Huntley a false alibi and was jailed for perverting the course of justice. She now lives under a new identity.
Revelations that Huntley had been the subject of prior rape and sexual assault complaints led to the establishment of criminal checks for anyone working with children.
He had been attacked before in prison, most seriously in 2005 and 2010.
“A police investigation into the circumstances of the incident is ongoing,” the spokesperson said, adding that prosecutors would consider bringing charges against his assailant.
