Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, sentenced to five years in prison in late September, will begin serving his sentence on October 21 in Paris's Santé prison, AFP reported, citing sources.

According to the Paris Financial Prosecutor's Office, the former president will be housed in a solitary confinement cell measuring nine square meters in a "unit for vulnerable individuals." Sarkozy will be allowed to receive visitors three times a week and use his mobile phone to call numbers approved by law enforcement.

If Sarkozy is indeed jailed, he will be the first post-war French leader and the first former president of an EU member state to be imprisoned. However, because he is over 70, he can apply for a lighter sentence, such as serving his sentence under house arrest with an electronic bracelet. A decision on such a request must be made within two months.

On September 25, a Paris court found Sarkozy guilty of conspiracy in the case of illegal Libyan financing of the 2007 election campaign. According to prosecutors, former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi donated approximately €50 million to support Sarkozy's campaign. The former president was acquitted of the remaining charges — embezzlement of public funds, passive corruption, and campaign financing irregularities.

Earlier, in December 2024, the Paris Court of Cassation refused to change the ruling in another Sarkozy case – one for corruption and influence peddling, for which he spent a year in house arrest with an electronic bracelet.

In June 2025, the French government stripped Sarkozy of his Legion of Honor and Order of Merit—the first such event since 1945. Current President Emmanuel Macron opposed stripping the former president of his awards.