What did Nicolas Sarkozy do and what can he expect in prison?

The former 70-year-old on Tuesday told the media “the truth will prevail,” as he became the first serving or former French president in generations to be incarcerated.

Read also: French prosecutors seek seven-year prison sentence for ex-PM Sarkozy over alleged links to Gaddafi

Read also: Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy sentenced to jail for corruption

He has since lodged an appeal against his jail sentence, but a judge had ruled for him to begin his sentence without waiting for this to be heard.

Here is how we have got to this point.

When was Sarkozy president of France?

Sarkozy was president of France from 2007 to 2012.

He had previously served as minister of the interior and minister of the economy under Jacques Chirac, who had been the previous president.

What were Sarkozy’s views and policies?

A right-wing conservative, Mr Sarkozy was part of the Union for a Popular Movement when he was president but later switched to The Republicans in 2015.

He lost the 2012 French election to Francois Hollande and withdrew in 2017 as Emmanuel Macron won power.

Mr Sarkozy is known for being tough on law and order as well as cutting the 35-hour work week. He also took a greater pro-US line than Mr Chirac had and supported intervention in Libya in 2011.

Who is Carla Bruni, Sarkozy’s wife?

Mr Sarkozy had two wives before his third and current spouse, Ms Bruni.

He was married to Marie-Dominique Culioli from 1982 to 1996 and had two sons, Pierre and Jean. From 1996 to 2007, his election, Mr Sarkozy was married to Cécilia Ciganer-Albéniz - a PR executive who had left her first husband for the politician, but then left Mr Sarkozy for Moroccan businessman Richard Attias. With Ms Ciganer-Albeniz, he has one son in Louie, who has turned out to support his father this week.

Mr Sarkozy and Ms Bruni, an Italian-born singer, songwriter and former fashion model. They married in 2008 and have a daughter called Giulia, born in 2011.

Ms Bruni, 57, has said she would never vote for a right-wing party, despite her husband’s affiliations, but has perhaps changed her mind in more recent interviews.

Three of her studio albums have reached number one in the French album chart.

Why has Sarkozy been sent to prison?

Mr Sarkozy was sentenced to five years behind bars last month for conspiring to fund his French election campaign using money accepted from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Earlier this month a Paris court found him guilty on one charge but acquitted him of others over the alleged illegal financing of the campaign with money from the government of then-Libyan leader Gaddafi.

Mr Sarkozy denied all wrongdoing during a three-month trial that also involved 11 co-defendants, including three former ministers.

The accusations trace their roots to 2011, when a Libyan news agency and Gaddafi himself said the Libyan state had secretly funnelled millions of Euros into Mr Sarkozy's 2007 campaign.

What will happen to Sarkozy in prison?

Mr Sarkozy will serve his sentence in La Santé Prison, an imposing building in central Paris.

The prison, in the southern Paris Montparnasse district, houses more than 1,100 inmates and Mr Sarkozy is set to occupy a cell in the isolation wing, measuring around 9 sq m.

He is set to be accompanied by a guard whenever he leaves his cell, to try and avoid any conflict with fellow prisoners. His personal facilities include a small gym, a tiny yard, and access to the shared library - while he can pay for access to a TV and a little personal fridge.

If his appeal is successful he could be out within one month but, by most reports, it seems unlikely he will stay for the entire five year term.

Who is the new president of France?

Emmanuel Macron, of the more liberal Renaissance party, has been president since 2017 but cannot run in the next election, which is likely to be held in 2027.