Sarkozy starts five-year stretch in Paris prison

FORMER French president Nicolas Sarkozy has arrived at a Paris jail to begin a five-year sentence for a criminal conspiracy to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTERS

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy walk to the car that will take him to the Prison de la Sante yesterday

(Remon Haazen)

He is the first ex-leader of modern France to be imprisoned.

Sarkozy, hand-in-hand with his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy as he travelkled to jail, said in a statement released on social media that "an innocent man" is being locked up.

He was convicted last month for criminal conspiracy in a scheme to fund his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya.

Sarkozy contests both the conviction and a judge's unusual decision to jail him pending an appeal.

Minutes before entering prison, Sarkozy and his wife walked slowly to join his children and grandchildren outside his home. He waved at a crowd of supporters.