Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has become the first ex-head of state in modern French history to be imprisoned, beginning a five-year sentence for conspiring to illegally fund his 2007 presidential campaign with money from the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Sarkozy, 70, arrived at La Santé Prison in Paris’s Montparnasse district at approximately 09:40 local time (07:40 GMT) on Monday morning. The prison, notorious for overcrowding and housing high-risk inmates, has placed the former president in its isolation wing for security reasons.

As Sarkozy left his home in Paris’s affluent 16th arrondissement, hundreds of supporters applauded and shouted his name, while his wife, former supermodel Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, held his hand. His son Louis had earlier urged the public to show solidarity, while his elder son Pierre appealed for messages of love and restraint.

Shortly before his incarceration, Sarkozy posted a defiant message on social media platform X: “I have no doubt. Truth will prevail. But how crushing the price will have been. It is not a former president they are locking up this morning — it is an innocent man.”

He added, “Do not feel sorry for me, for my wife and my children are by my side… but this morning I feel deep sorrow for a France humiliated by a will for revenge.”

Sarkozy’s imprisonment marks the first time since Philippe Pétain, the World War II collaborationist leader jailed for treason in 1945, that a French leader has served time behind bars.

According to prison sources, Sarkozy will occupy a 9 to 11 square meter cell equipped with a toilet, shower, desk, and a small electric hob. He will also have access to a television — for which he must pay €14 per month — and a small refrigerator.

Under his current confinement conditions, he will be allowed one hour of daily exercise alone in the isolation wing’s courtyard and permitted limited visits and phone contact with family members.

Sarkozy’s lawyer, Christophe Ingrain, confirmed that an appeal for release was immediately filed, arguing that “nothing justifies his imprisonment.” Ingrain said the former president is expected to remain incarcerated for “at least three weeks or a month” while legal procedures continue.

The case continues to stir political and public debate in France. President Emmanuel Macron, who received Sarkozy at the Élysée Palace days before his incarceration, stated on Tuesday that it was “normal on a human level” to meet his predecessor but declined to criticize the court’s decision.

“It is not my role to comment on judicial rulings,” Macron said. “But it is understandable that many French citizens would react to the sight of a former president being jailed.”

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin announced that he would personally visit Sarkozy in prison “as part of his responsibility to ensure the safety of all inmates, including the former president.”

Sarkozy, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, continues to maintain his innocence in what he calls the “Libyan money affair” — an allegation that Gaddafi’s regime secretly financed his 2007 campaign. The scandal has long shadowed his post-presidency, leading to multiple trials and convictions for corruption and influence peddling, all of which he has appealed.

While Sarkozy’s legal team insists he is the victim of a political vendetta, French media describe his imprisonment as a historic and symbolic moment for France’s Fifth Republic, underscoring both the independence of the judiciary and the fragility of political legacies. (ILKHA)