Defiant former French president Sarkozy arrives at prison to begin sentence

Defiant former French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived at a prison in Paris on Tuesday to begin serving a five-year sentence.

In September, he was convicted for conspiring to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya.

Sarkozy, who was the conservative president of France between 2007 and 2012, is the first ex-leader of modern France to be imprisoned.

He left his home this morning, hand-in-hand with his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy to travel to the notorious La Santé prison.

In a statement on social media, release on his way to the jail, Sarkozy said “an innocent man is being locked up”.

Seventy-year-old Sarkozy contests both the conviction and a judge’s unusual decision to incarcerate him pending appeal.

The Paris judge said this was due to "the seriousness of the disruption to public order caused by the offense".

Sarkozy's journey from the presidential Elysée Palace to prison has captivated France.

Hundreds of supporters gathered in the high-end Paris neighbourhood where Sarkozy lives, applauding and chanting “Nicolas, Nicolas” and singing the French anthem.

His lawyers said the former president will be held in solitary confinement, where he will be kept away from all other prisoners for security reasons.

Lawyer Christophe Ingrain said on BFM TV that the incarceration “strengthens his determination, it strengthens his rage to prove that he is innocent.”

Ingrain also said Sarkozy is planning to write a book about his prison experience.

"I’m not afraid of prison. I’ll hold my head high, including in front of the doors of La Santé," Sarkozy told La Tribune Dimanche newspaper. "I’ll fight till the end".

Speaking outside the prison on Tuesday, his legal team said it had lodged a request for parole, with their mission being to take him out "as quickly as possible".