Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is serving his sentence at La Santé prison in Paris, where two security officers have been assigned to protect him from an adjacent cell.

France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez confirmed on Wednesday that the special arrangement was necessary given Sarkozy’s “status and the threats against him.” He said the protective detail, which the former head of state normally enjoys, “has indeed been maintained in detention.”

Sarkozy, who led France from 2007 to 2012, was jailed on Tuesday after being found guilty of seeking campaign funding from Moamer Kadhafi’s Libya during his 2007 presidential run. He received a five-year prison sentence for criminal conspiracy.

Sources said the two bodyguards are stationed in a neighboring cell inside the Paris prison, a decision that has drawn criticism from within the prison system.

Wilfried Fonck, head of the UFAP UNSa Justice union, called the arrangement “an insult” to prison officers.

“They’re basically telling us we don’t know how to do our jobs. Today we have two civilians inside a prison who shouldn’t be there and who don’t know how the system works. I’ve never seen anything like it in 25 years on the job.” he told RTL radio.

According to prison staff, Sarkozy is being held in a nine-square-metre cell in the solitary confinement wing to prevent contact with other inmates. Prisoners in solitary are allowed one daily walk in a small yard and visits three times a week.

Sarkozy’s legal team has appealed the verdict and requested his release pending trial, but say he is expected to remain behind bars for at least three weeks to a month.

He is the first former leader of a European Union country to be jailed and the first French head of state to serve time since Philippe Pétain, who was imprisoned after World War II for collaborating with Nazi Germany.

Sarkozy has faced multiple legal challenges since losing his re-election bid in 2012, having already been convicted in two other corruption-related cases.