The 70-year-old conservative leader, who governed France from 2007 to 2012, was convicted last month of seeking illicit campaign funding from the late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi to support his 2007 presidential run. Despite appealing the verdict, Sarkozy began serving his five-year sentence after leaving his Paris home hand-in-hand with his wife, singer Carla Bruni.

Escorted by police motorbikes, Sarkozy arrived at the prison mid-morning, where prisoners could be heard shouting “Welcome Sarkozy!” and “Sarkozy’s here!” from their cells, according to AFP reporters at the scene.

His lawyer, Christophe Ingrain, confirmed that an urgent request for release pending appeal had been filed but acknowledged that Sarkozy would likely remain behind bars for at least three weeks to a month while the court reviews the motion.

Before entering the facility, Sarkozy posted a defiant message on X, rejecting the charges and describing his imprisonment as an injustice. “It is not a former president of the republic being jailed this morning, but an innocent man,” he wrote, vowing that “the truth will prevail.”

Supporters and family members gathered outside his residence early Tuesday, waving French flags and holding framed photos of the former president. As Sarkozy departed, chants of “Nicolas! Free Nicolas!” echoed through the street.

Sarkozy, who has faced multiple legal battles since leaving office, was sentenced on September 25 to five years in prison for criminal conspiracy related to the alleged Libyan financing scheme. At the time, he said he would “sleep in prison — but with my head held high.”

He is the first French leader to be imprisoned since Philippe Pétain, the head of the collaborationist Vichy regime during World War II.

In an interview with Le Figaro ahead of his imprisonment, Sarkozy revealed he would take two books with him — a biography of Jesus and Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo, the story of an innocent man wrongly jailed who later seeks justice and redemption.