WATCH ex-French president head to prison

Nicolas Sarkozy will serve five years after being found guilty of conspiring to raise campaign funds from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi

Footage has appeared showing former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni holding hands while walking to a car that will take him to Paris’ La Sante prison, where he will start a five-year sentence on Tuesday.

Sarkozy, who led France between 2007 and 2012, was convicted by a Paris court last month over a 2005 plot to obtain secret campaign funds from the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, against whom he led a NATO-backed regime change operation that destroyed the country.

A crowd of supporters applauded and chanted “Nicolas, Nicolas” as the 70-year-old hugged his spouse and got into the black vehicle.

The former president, who denies any wrongdoing, issued a statement on X later on Tuesday, claiming that the case against him had been launched based on a forged document and vowing “to continue to expose this legal scandal.”