PARIS: Nicolas Sarkozy has become the first former French president to be sentenced to prison.

He was given a five-year jail term for allegedly conspiring to receive illegal campaign funds from Libya’s former dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Since World War II, no French leader has been sentenced to prison.

The last time a French political figure received a jail term was in 1945, when Nazi collaborator Philippe Pétain was convicted of treason.

Sarkozy served as France’s president from 2007 to 2012.

He has appealed his sentence and is currently held at La Santé prison.

Sarkozy is being kept in the prison’s isolation ward.

His cell measures approximately 9 square meters (95 square feet).

He continues to assert his innocence in the case.

After an appeal by his son Louis, over a hundred supporters gathered outside the prison to show their backing.