Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy starts five-year jail term

Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president of France, is stepping down from a Paris prison to begin his five-year sentence.

The 70-year-old leader became the first former head of a state to be imprisoned after arriving at La Sante on Tuesday morning in a police car.

Sarkozy accepted millions of euros in illegal payments from the late Libyan ruler, Muammar Gaddafi, to finance his 2007 election campaign, and was found guilty last month of criminal conspiracy. He was given a five-year sentence.

He has consistently refuted the allegations. As soon as his attorneys arrived to begin his sentence, his attorneys informed him that a release request had been made right away.

On his way to prison, he said, “It’s not a former president of the republic being imprisoned this morning, but an innocent man.” “Truth will win,” he says.

From early on Tuesday, hundreds of supporters and family members were gathered outside Sarkozy’s residence, some holding framed pictures.

As he left the jail, they yelled, “Free Nicolas!” As neighbors watched from their balconies, they had earlier sung the French national anthem.

Flora Amanou, 41, who showed her support, said, “This is truly a sad day for France and for democracy.”

Sarkozy is the first French leader to serve a sentence following Philippe Petain, the leader of the Nazis’ joint holding company, who was imprisoned after World War II.

He informed Le Figaro newspaper that he would be traveling with him a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, a novel about an innocent man who is imprisoned but escapes to seek retribution.

According to prison staff, he is most likely being held in a nine-square-meter (95-square-foot) cell in the solitary confinement wing of the prison.

According to staff, this is a security measure, which means that he won’t have any contact with other prisoners.

In solitary confinement, prisoners are permitted to walk in a small yard for one day each day. Sarkozy will also be permitted to visit three times per week.

How long will he be imprisoned, it’s not clear.

Sarkozy was sentenced to an “exceptional gravity” charge based on a pre-sentence statement by the presiding judge, Nathalie Gavarino, who also upheld the judge’s ruling that he would still be imprisoned if he appealed.