Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy reached a prison in Paris on Tuesday to begin serving a 5-year sentence for a criminal conspiracy to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya — a historic moment that makes him the first ex-leader of modern France to be imprisoned.

Sarkozy, 70, was greeted by hundreds of supporters when he walked out of his Paris home hand-in-hand with his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. He embraced her before getting into a police car.

Minutes later, the vehicle passed through the gates of the notorious La Santé prison — where Sarkozy will now serve his sentence in solitary confinement.

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

He contests both the conviction and a

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