PARIS, Nov 9, (AP): A court in Paris will decide whether to release France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy from prison on Monday, just 20 days after he was incarcerated. He was sentenced to five years in prison following his conviction for criminal conspiracy in a scheme to finance his winning 2007 campaign with funds from Libya.

Sarkozy, 70, is the first former president of modern France sentenced to actual time behind bars. He was previously convicted on corruption charges, but was ordered to wear an electric monitor rather than serve a prison sentence. Sarkozy's legal team is appealing his conviction and has also filed a request for an early release. An appeal trial is to take place at a later date, possibly in the spring.

On Monday, a court in Paris is to examine his request for release, with a decision expected later that day. The former president, who served from 2007 to 2012, says he’s innocent and contests both the conviction and the decision to incarcerate him pending appeal. The Paris court found Sarkozy guilty on Sept. 25 and said the prison sentence was effective immediately.

But as soon as he was incarcerated on Oct. 21, his legal team filed a request for an early release. A court is to make a decision Monday based on article 144 of France’s criminal code, which states that release should be the general rule pending appeal, while detention remains the exception - for example for those considered dangerous or at risk of fleeing to another country, or to protect evidence or prevent pressure on witnesses.

It does not involve the motives for the sentencing. During Monday's hearing, Sarkozy is expected to provide guarantees he will comply with justice requirements for conditional release. If granted, he would be placed under judicial supervision and could be released from La Santé prison in Paris within a few hours.

In its Sept. 25 ruling, a Paris court said Sarkozy, as a presidential candidate and interior minister, used his position "to prepare corruption at the highest level” from 2005 to 2007 with the aim of financing his presidential campaign with funds from Libya - then led by longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi. The panel of three judges said that Sarkozy’s closest associates, Claude Guéant and Brice Hortefeux, held secret meetings in 2005 with Abdullah al-Senoussi, Gadhafi’s brother-in-law and intelligence chief, despite the fact that he was "convicted of acts of terrorism committed mostly against French and European citizens.”