Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy will serve his sentence in a Paris prison from 21 October, French media reported citing their sources.
The 70-year-old former president, who will become the first French post-war leader and the first former head of a European Union country to go to prison, will serve his sentence in La Sainte prison in Paris.
Additional security measures are expected to be put in place to ensure his safety at the prison, with Sarkozy possibly being placed in a ward for vulnerable prisoners or held in solitary confinement.
Earlier on Monday, he arrived at the financial prosecutor’s office in Paris to learn details of his impending imprisonment. He arrived in a car with tinted windows and then left again three quarters of an hour later without making any comment, AFP reporters saw.
In September, a court found Sarkozy – France’s leader from 2007 to 2012 – guilty of criminal conspiracy in a case involving the financing of his election campaign by the Libyan government of Muammar Gaddafi between 2005 and 2007. He was sentenced to five years in prison, including one year of probation.
Sarkozy was found not guilty on other charges in that case – embezzlement of public funds, passive corruption and campaign finance violations.
Sarkozy, 70, denied the charges throughout the trial. He has appealed the court’s decision. According to French media, a new trial is expected in the coming months.
The appeals court in Paris has up to 18 months to organise it.
After his imprisonment, his lawyers can petition the Court of Appeal for his release, but he will remain in custody unless the court decides otherwise.