His photo was posted on social media. A magistrates' union denounced the attitude of politicians who accused the justice system of taking revenge against the former president.

The Union of Magistrates (USM) announced Friday that it had reported threats to the French courts against the president of the court that sentenced former President Nicolas Sarkozy to five years in prison and ordered his immediate incarceration.

"The USM is concerned about the public designation of magistrates, both at the prosecution and the bench, as political enemies and the consequences, even indirect, which result from this: threats of death or serious violence," the majority union wrote in a press release.

The sentencing on Thursday of former President Nicolas Sarkozy to five years in prison for having "allowed his close associates" to approach Muammar Gaddafi's Libya in order to obtain illegal financing for his 2007 presidential campaign marks a "historic first" in a country in the midst of political uncertainty.

"The USM calls on everyone to act responsibly and exercise restraint; the weakening of judicial authority can only contribute to a general weakening of the authority of the State and, consequently, of France," he added.

According to USM Deputy Secretary General Aurélien Martini, the magistrate is the target of death threats and violent attacks on social media, where her photo has been published. "We are attentive and concerned," he told AFP.

"A diversion that fools no one"

The Magistrates' Union (SM), for its part, denounced the attacks by "a section of the political class," which believes that the former president's conviction was "the result of "relentlessness," or even "revenge" by the justice system." "These accusations constitute a diversion that should not deceive anyone," believes the left-leaning union.

"The strategy by which the accused accuses his judges is a classic of public figures who are prosecuted or convicted," he adds, observing that the magistrates exercised "their functions with impartiality, professionalism and independently of their opinions."

"It is not the 'government of judges' that should be at the heart of the debate, but rather the fight against economic and financial crime, right up to the highest levels of the State," he continues.