Nicolas Sarkozy, the former President of France, began serving a five-year prison sentence after arriving at a Parisian prison facility on Tuesday.
The 70-year-old ex-leader was convicted for his involvement in a criminal organization linked to alleged illegal campaign funding from the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. He has publicly denied the charges, describing the verdict as a “judicial scandal,” and said the conviction hinged on a falsified document.
Despite an appeal being filed, the court ordered the sentence to be enforced immediately. Due to his age, Sarkozy may qualify for conditional release under French law, which allows some inmates aged 70 and over to serve their term outside prison under certain conditions.
He is being held at La Santé Prison in central Paris, where he will reportedly reside in a protected unit for high-profile inmates; the standard cell includes basic furnishings such as a bed, desk, refrigerator and television.
