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The former French president has declared that his stay in prison has been “gruelling” and a “horrific experience” as he appeared via video link at a judicial proceeding regarding his request to complete his jail term at home.

Court Appearance from Prison

Sarkozy, dressed in a dark blue attire, was visible on screen from prison on Monday, seated at a table with his lawyers beside him. He informed the judges: “I want to acknowledge all the prison staff, who are remarkably compassionate, and who have made this nightmare bearable – because it is a nightmare.”

Background of the Legal Situation

The former president entered the correctional facility in Paris on 21 October, after receiving a half-decade imprisonment for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to obtain funds for his election bid from the government of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has appealed against the verdict, but judges ruled that because of the “serious nature” of his guilty verdict, he had to go to prison while the legal challenge proceeded.

Unprecedented Significance

The former leader, who was France’s rightwing president 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 stated to the judges from prison: “I never had any idea or intention to ask Mr Gaddafi for any kind of financing … I will never confess to something I didn’t do … I could not have foreseen that at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s an challenge that has been imposed on me. I admit it’s hard, it’s very hard. It has an impact on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

He stated he would not try to communicate with any defendants or testifiers in the case. He said: “I’m French, I love my country, my family is in France. This situation has caused them pain a lot.”

Defense Lawyers Observations

His legal representative Jean-Michel Darrois, positioned beside him in the remote connection facility, stated: “Being in solitary confinement has been very hard for him.” He said of Sarkozy: “He’s a strong, robust and brave man and this detention has caused him great suffering.”

In court, another of Sarkozy’s lawyers, Christophe Ingrain, who had visited him every day, asserted Sarkozy would be safer outside jail than within. “He has faced death threats, has listened to shouts at night and the urgent intervention in a adjacent room when a prisoner self-harmed,” he stated.

Current Status

The public attorney Damien Brunet requested that Sarkozy’s petition for freedom be approved. The court will announce its decision on Monday afternoon.

Incarceration Details

Sarkozy has been held in solitary confinement for his own security, in an private room of about 9 sq metres, with his own washing facility and toilet. Security personnel are occupying a neighbouring cell to ensure his safety.

Accounts suggested that he had been eating only yoghurt in prison as he feared any food might have been tampered with. He had been given the opportunity to prepare his own meals but refused this.

Support from Outside

Sarkozy’s social media account last week shared a video of numerous correspondences, postcards and packages it claimed had been sent to him, including a collage, a sweet treat and a book. “No correspondence will go unanswered,” his account declared. “The end of the story has not yet been determined.”

Personal Belongings

Sarkozy brought with him a life story of Christ as well as the classic novel, Alexandre Dumas’s novel in which an innocent man is sentenced to jail but breaks out to take revenge.

Court Case Details

During Sarkozy’s three-month trial, the public prosecutor had told the court that Sarkozy engaged in a “Faustian pact of dishonesty with one of the most unspeakable dictators of the last three decades.

Sarkozy maintained his innocence and stated he had not been part of a illegal scheme to obtain campaign finances from Libya.

He was found not guilty of three separate charges of corruption, misuse of Libyan public funds and illegal election campaign funding. After the public attorney also challenged these acquittals, Sarkozy will be re-tried on all the accusations next year, including illegal collaboration.

Previous Convictions

Although the allegations of a secret campaign funding pact with the Libyan regime formed the most significant legal case Sarkozy had faced, he had already been convicted in two different proceedings and lost France’s top honor, the Légion d’honneur.

Sarkozy had previously become the initial ex-leader forced to wear an monitoring device after being found guilty in a different matter of dishonesty and improper sway. In that situation, he was given a one-year jail term but was able to serve it with an ankle monitor attached to his leg. He wore the tag for three months before being granted conditional release.