Former French interior minister Claude Guéant to be freed from prison

France's 77-year-old former interior minister, Claude Guéant, who is currently serving a two month jail sentence in Paris, is to be released on Wednesday.

Claude Guéant, Nicolas Sarkozy's former chief of staff, arrives for his trial in the case dubbed 'Elysee Polls' at Paris courthouse on October 18, 2021. (File photo) © AFP/Stéphane de Sakutin

A one-time aide to former president Nicolas Sarkozy, Guéant has been behind bars since 13 December because of unpaid fines and damages that date back to 2017 in a case that revolves around cash bonuses paid by the Interior Ministry.

Guéant's lawyer argued that the former minister has "paid in full" his debts via loans from relatives.

He added that Guéant's "health would significantly deteriorate" in the Paris' Prison de la Santé, as he suffers from a form of epilepsy.

The former interior minister has now been granted conditional release, without an electronic tag, starting this Wednesday. 

• French former interior minister begins jail time for misuse of public funds

In another court hearing over polling fraud, Guéant was handed a one-year jail term for nepotism on 21 January. That sentence was suspended under a deferred detention warrant.

His lawyer has appealed the ruling.

Quelles sont les conditions de détention de Patrick Balkany à Fleury-Mérogis ? pic.twitter.com/ofwae6e8jE

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The Balkany affair

In related news, Patrick Balkany, the former right-wing mayor of the Paris suburb Levallois-Perret, who was convicted of tax fraud in 2019, was returned to prison on Monday.

Balkany, a close friend of former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was jailed after being found guilty of financial fraud and money-laundering.

He was released in February 2020 on health grounds, but had been returned to prison after a judge revoked his conditional release.