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Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy has asserted that his stay in prison has been “exhausting” and a “horrific experience” as he was present via remote connection at a judicial proceeding regarding his petition to complete his jail term at home.

Legal Proceeding from Prison

The former leader, dressed in a navy blue suit, was visible on screen from jail on Monday, seated at a table with his lawyers beside him. He told the court: “I want to pay tribute to all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, and who have eased this difficult situation – because it is a horrific experience.”

Background of the Legal Situation

Sarkozy was admitted to the correctional facility in Paris on 21 October, after receiving a half-decade imprisonment for illegal collaboration over a plan to obtain funds for his election bid from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has challenged the verdict, but the court ruled that because of the “exceptional gravity” of his conviction, he had to be incarcerated while the legal challenge took its course.

Historical Importance

Sarkozy, who was France’s conservative leader between 2007 and 2012, is the initial ex-leader of an EU country to serve time in prison, and the first French postwar leader to be incarcerated.

Personal Statement

Sarkozy told the court from prison: “I was completely unaware or desire to ask Mr Gaddafi for any kind of financing … I will never confess to something I am innocent of … I never imagined that at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal that has been forced upon me. I admit it’s hard, it’s extremely challenging. It has an impact on any prisoner because it’s exhausting.”

He said he would not attempt to enter into contact with any defendants or testifiers in the case. He declared: “I’m French, I love my country, my family is in France. This ordeal has made them suffer a lot.”

Legal Team Observations

His legal representative Jean-Michel Darrois, sitting next to him in the prison video link room, said: “Being in solitary confinement has been extremely difficult for him.” He said of Sarkozy: “He’s a strong, durable and courageous man and this detention has been very painful for him.”

In court, a different legal representative, Christophe Ingrain, who had seen him daily, asserted Sarkozy would be more secure outside jail than inside. “He has faced death threats, has listened to shouts at night and the emergency response in a neighbouring cell when a prisoner self-harmed,” he stated.

Present Situation

The public attorney Damien Brunet asked that Sarkozy’s request for release be granted. The court will announce its decision on Monday afternoon.

Incarceration Details

The former president has been held in solitary confinement for his own safety, in an individual cell of about 97 square feet, with his own shower and toilet. Two bodyguards are occupying a neighbouring cell to protect him.

Reports indicated that he had been eating only yoghurt in prison as he feared any meal might have been contaminated. He had been given the opportunity to prepare his own meals but declined the offer.

Support from Outside

Sarkozy’s social media account last week shared a recording of piles of letters, postcards and parcels it claimed had been delivered to his attention, including a collage, a chocolate bar and a volume. “No letter will go unanswered,” his account announced. “The final chapter has not yet been determined.”

Personal Belongings

The former leader brought with him a biography of Jesus as well as the classic novel, Alexandre Dumas’s novel in which an wrongly accused individual is imprisoned but breaks out to take revenge.

Legal Proceedings Particulars

During the lengthy court case, the public prosecutor had informed the judges that Sarkozy entered into a “corrupt agreement” of dishonesty with one of the most unspeakable dictators of the last 30 years.

Sarkozy denied wrongdoing and stated he had not been involved in a criminal conspiracy to obtain campaign finances from Libya.

He was acquitted of three distinct accusations of corruption, misuse of Libyan public funds and unlawful political financing. After the public attorney also appealed against these acquittals, Sarkozy will be judged again on all the accusations next year, including criminal conspiracy.

Prior Legal Issues

Although the claims of a clandestine financial agreement with the Libyan regime formed the most significant legal case Sarkozy had encountered, he had already been found guilty in two different proceedings and stripped of France’s top honor, the Légion d’honneur.

Sarkozy had previously become the first former French head of state forced to wear an monitoring device after being found guilty in a different matter of dishonesty and influence peddling. In that situation, he was given a 12-month sentence but was able to serve it with an ankle monitor worn around the ankle. He had the device for a quarter year before being granted conditional release.