Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to return to prison

Former Nicolas Sarkozy is set to return to prison after a French court rejected his request to merge two separate criminal sentences, BFM reports.

The sentences stem from two high-profile cases: the “wiretapping and illegal influence” case and the Bygmalion affair, involving fake invoices during his 2012 presidential campaign. Sarkozy’s lawyers had requested that the two cases be combined and that time already served under one sentence be credited toward the other.

The court ruled that the conditions for merging the sentences were not met, meaning Sarkozy will have to serve an additional six months in prison.

Earlier, Sarkozy complained about poor conditions during his previous incarceration, describing the prison pillows as being made of a strange, clay-like material and noisy cellmates making it difficult to sleep.