On October 21st, local time, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy went to Lasante Prison in Paris and officially began to serve his sentence.

For allegedly illegally receiving campaign funding from former Libyan leader Gaddafi, Sarkozy was sentenced on September 25 to five years in prison by a Paris criminal court, some of which could be carried out at home by electronic surveillance.

Nathalie Gavarino, the presiding judge of the Paris Criminal Court, said that Sarkozy was convicted of "conspiracy" between 2005 and 2007 and "allowed his cronies and political supporters to ask the Libyan government for financial support in the 2007 presidential campaign".

Sarkozy insisted on his ¡°innocence¡± after the trial and said he would appeal the verdict. French media, citing reports from the justice department, that while Sarkozy had filed an appeal, the judicial system would still initiate a lawful sentence enforcement procedure before the appeal trial began, informing him of the arrangements for serving his sentence.

Sarkozy served as President of France from 2007 to 2012.