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Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has begun serving a five-year prison sentence after being convicted of conspiring to finance his 2007 election campaign with money from the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
He is the first French ex-head of state to go to jail since World War II collaborationist leader Philippe Pétain in 1945.
Sarkozy, who led France from 2007 to 2012, arrived at La Santé prison in Paris on Tuesday morning, waving to supporters who had gathered outside his home to cheer him on. “Nicolas! Nicolas!” they shouted as he left, hand-in-hand with his wife, singer Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
The 70-year-old has appealed against the sentence but must remain in custody in the prison’s isolation wing for security reasons. His lawyer, Christophe Ingrain, said a request for release had already been filed, arguing that “nothing justifies his imprisonment.” He could remain behind bars for at least three weeks while the court considers the appeal.
As his car entered the gates of the 19th-century facility at 09:40 local time (07:40 GMT), Sarkozy posted on X:
“I have no doubt — truth will prevail. But how crushing the price will have been. They are not locking up a former president this morning, but an innocent man.”
Inside La Santé, Sarkozy occupies a 9–11 sq m (95–120 sq ft) cell equipped with a toilet, shower, desk, small hob, and TV. He is allowed one hour of daily exercise alone in the courtyard and can receive visits from his family. Prison officials describe isolation conditions as “very harsh,” with detainees kept apart from all other inmates.
President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that he met Sarkozy at the Élysée Palace last week, saying it was “normal, on a human level, to receive one of my predecessors.” However, Macron declined to comment on the court’s decision. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin also said he would visit the ex-president in prison to ensure his safety and the proper functioning of the facility.
Sarkozy maintains his innocence in what he calls the “highly political” Libyan money affair. Prosecutors accused him of benefiting from millions of euros in secret Libyan cash funneled through intermediaries. He was not found to have personally received the money but was convicted of criminal association through two close aides — Brice Hortefeux and Claude Guéant — who allegedly arranged meetings with Gaddafi’s intelligence officials in 2005.
The former leader told La Tribune before entering prison: “I’m not afraid of prison. I’ll keep my head held high, even at the prison gates.”
Sarkozy plans to spend his time reading The Life of Jesus by Jean-Christian Petitfils and Alexandre Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo — the classic story of a man wrongly imprisoned who later triumphs over his accusers.
This marks another chapter in a long string of legal troubles for the former president. He was previously convicted in the “Bygmalion affair” for illegal campaign financing and was ordered to wear an electronic tag for several months. France’s highest administrative court is expected to rule on his appeal in that case next month.
As Sarkozy begins his sentence, France finds itself confronting the rare spectacle of a former president behind bars — a moment both unprecedented and deeply symbolic for the nation’s political life.
