Nicolas Sarkozy has arrived at the "Sante" prison to serve a five-year sentence, a shocking setback for a man who was president of France between 2007 and 2012, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
Sarkozy left his home in Paris this morning, arm in arm with his wife Carla Bruni and applauded by his gathered supporters who chanted "Nicolas, Nicolas". The former president drove to the "Sante" prison in the French capital.
The court decided to jail the former conservative leader after finding him guilty of conspiring to raise campaign funds from Libya.
Sarkozy will become the first former French leader to go to prison since Marshal Philippe Pétain, who established a collaborationist, pro-German regime in southern France during World War II. Pétain was sentenced to death after the war, but the sentence was later commuted to life in prison.
Sarkozy wrote in a long message in "Ex" today: "I want to say (to the French people) with my unwavering force that this morning it is not a former president of the republic who is going to prison, but an innocent man."
Sarkozy's conviction is the culmination of years of legal battles over allegations that his 2007 campaign received millions in cash from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was later toppled and killed during the Arab Spring revolutions.
While Sarkozy was found guilty of conspiring with close associates to organize the scheme, he was acquitted of the charge that he personally received or used the funds, Reuters reported.
He has consistently denied committed a crime and calls the case politically motivated.