Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is preparing to enter La Santé prison in Paris on October 21 to begin serving a 5-year prison sentence handed down in a case involving illegal financing of his 2007 election campaign, according to French judicial sources.

At 70 years old, Sarkozy, who led France from 2007 to 2012, will become the first former head of state in the European Union to be actually imprisoned after being convicted of financial crimes.

The Greater Paris area only has two detention centers with “protection sections” ensuring the security of the former president: La Santé prison in Paris and Fleury-Mérogis prison south of the capital.

Sarkozy’s lawyer Christophe Ingran and the financial public prosecutor have not commented on the date and place of his imprisonment, an unprecedented matter in French history.

On September 25, a Paris court sentenced Sarkozy to five years in prison after he “allowed close associates” to communicate with former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to obtain illegal funding for his 2007 election campaign.

Despite appealing the verdict, Sarkozy will be imprisoned under a deferred arrest warrant “with provisional enforcement” issued against him, a measure justified by the court due to the “exceptional gravity of the acts” committed by a political figure who at the time aspired to the highest office in the Republic.

Unlike the other convicted individuals in this case, intermediary Alexandre Jouhri and banker Wajeb Nacer, Sarkozy was granted a grace period before entering prison to make necessary arrangements regarding his professional commitments.