He will become the first former head of state of the European Union to sleep behind bars: former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to be imprisoned Tuesday in Paris's Santé prison, almost a month after his five-year prison sentence in the trial for the alleged Libyan financing of his election campaign.

"I will assume my responsibilities, I will comply with court summonses, and if they absolutely want me to sleep in prison, I will sleep in prison. But with my head held high," said the former tutelary figure of the French right, whose lawyers are expected to file a request for his release as soon as their client is imprisoned, upon leaving the Paris criminal court.

He will likely be placed in one of the fifteen 9-square-meter cells in the solitary confinement unit, according to prison officers familiar with the only prison located in Paris. This choice would avoid Nicolas Sarkozy interacting with other inmates to ensure his safety and avoid any photographs with one of the cell phones that are common in detention centers, these sources argue.

- "Exceptional gravity" -

Nicolas Sarkozy denies any plans to finance his victorious 2007 campaign through Libya and has compared himself to the most famous innocent convicts in French history and literature, Alfred Dreyfus and Edmond Dantès, Count of Monte Cristo. On the social network X, his son, Louis, called on everyone to "come and express their support for Nicolas Sarkozy" near the former head of state's home on Tuesday morning.

On September 25, the judges stunned the courtroom by issuing a committal order for his conviction for "criminal conspiracy," without waiting for the appeal hearing, which is expected to take place before the summer. They cited the "exceptional gravity of the facts," granting the former head of state only a delay before his incarceration to give him time to organize his actions.

Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of allowing his two closest Interior Ministry colleagues, Brice Hortefeux and Claude Guéant, to begin talks in Tripoli with a view to secretly financing his campaign from Muammar Gaddafi's Libya.

The cause was meetings at the end of 2005 between Messrs. Guéant and Hortefeux, with Abdallah Senoussi, brother-in-law of the Libyan dictator, who is serving a life sentence in France for the attack on the UTA DC-10 in 1989 (170 dead).

While the court acknowledged that it had not been established that funds had "ultimately" arrived in the campaign coffers, the investigation uncovered financial movements from Libya "with the aim of financing it," according to the judgment.

The Court of Appeal will have two months to consider Nicolas Sarkozy's request for release, but the hearing is expected to take place sooner. The appeals of the two other prisoners in the trial who were imprisoned, Wahib Nacer and Alexandre Djouhri, will be heard on October 27 and November 3, just over a month after their detention.

- Pre-trial detention, last resort -

The disturbance of public order caused by the "exceptional gravity of the facts" is a criterion provided for a custodial warrant accompanying a conviction. But this is no longer the case for a request for release following an appeal, which places the accused in the position of a presumed innocent person.

Pre-trial detention is then only possible if it is the "only means" of preserving evidence, preventing pressure on witnesses and victims or collusion with accomplices, preventing escape or reoffending, and protecting the person under investigation. Otherwise, the person must be released under judicial supervision, possibly by placing them under house arrest with a bracelet.

While awaiting his possible release, Nicolas Sarkozy will be faced with solitude. The solitary confinement regime requires one walk per day, alone, in a small courtyard measuring a few square meters. He will have access, according to a set schedule, to one of the three small gyms in the prison wing or to the room that serves as a library.

When he travels, for example to visit the visiting room or to see the doctor, the former head of state will be accompanied by at least one guard and a so-called "blocking" procedure will be initiated to prevent any contact with other prisoners.