France’s interior minister confirmed on Wednesday that former president Nicolas Sarkozy is being guarded by two security officers while serving his prison sentence over a criminal conspiracy case linked to Libya.

The former head of state “would normally be provided with protective measures given his status and the threats against him,” which “have indeed been applied during his detention,” Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told local media, confirming information previously reported by AFP sources.

The two security officers are staying in a neighboring cell at Paris’s La Santé prison, where Sarkozy was placed on Tuesday. Last month, the former French leader was found guilty of seeking campaign financing from Libya under Muammar Gaddafi ahead of his election victory.

He was sentenced to five years in prison for criminal conspiracy. According to AFP, prison staff said Sarkozy was to be held in a nine-square-meter solitary cell to avoid contact with other inmates.

Prisoners in solitary confinement are allowed one daily walk, alone, in a small courtyard. Sarkozy will also be permitted three visits per week.

Sarkozy is the first former head of state of a European Union country to be imprisoned, and the first French leader jailed since Philippe Pétain, the head of the collaborationist Vichy regime, who was imprisoned after World War II.

He has faced a series of legal troubles since losing his bid for re-election in 2012, having already been convicted in two other cases.