Former French president to serve prison sentence in solitary confinement

Sarkozy, France's right-wing leader from 2007 to 2012, was convicted in late September of criminal conspiracy over a plan for late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi to fund his electoral campaign.

The former state leader, who has appealed the verdict and denounced an "injustice", is to be incarcerated in the Parisian prison La Sante.

"If they absolutely want me to sleep in prison, I will sleep in prison -- but with my head held high," he told the press after his September 25 verdict.

He is likely to be held in one of the cells of nine square metres (95 square feet) in the prison's solitary confinement wing, prison staff have told AFP.