Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be released from his “nightmare” in a French jail just 20 days into a five-year sentence for his role in an alleged electoral funding conspiracy linked to the late Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi’s regime.

A court in Paris said Sarkozy can be let out of the notorious Prison de la Santé this afternoon, while he challenges his conviction, according to Agence France-Presse. The court also ordered measures to ensure he remains in France, AFP added.

Under French law, prolonged detention as the former president appeals would have only been required in order to protect evidence and witnesses, prevent collusion among defendants or avoid flight.

The first jailing of a former president in the French Republic’s history grabbed headlines across the world.

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