🔗 Share this article

Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy has stated that his time behind bars has been “gruelling” and a “nightmare” as he appeared via video link at a judicial proceeding regarding his request to complete his jail term at home.

Court Appearance from Prison

The former leader, dressed in a navy blue suit, appeared on camera from jail on Monday, seated at a table with his lawyers beside him. He told the court: “I want to acknowledge all the correctional officers, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this nightmare bearable – because it is a nightmare.”

Background of the Legal Situation

The former president was admitted to the correctional facility in Paris on 21 October, after being handed a half-decade imprisonment for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to secure financing for his election bid from the government of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

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

Historical Importance

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

Emotional Testimony

Sarkozy told the court from prison: “I never had any idea or desire to ask Mr Gaddafi for any kind of financing … I will not admit to something I am innocent of … I never imagined that at 70 years of age, I’d be in prison. It’s an challenge that has been imposed on me. I confess it’s difficult, it’s extremely challenging. It has an impact on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

He said he would not attempt to enter into contact with any accused individuals 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.”

Legal Team Comments

Sarkozy’s lawyer Jean-Michel Darrois, sitting next to him in the remote connection facility, stated: “Being in solitary confinement has been very hard for him.” He commented on Sarkozy: “He’s a strong, robust and brave man and this detention has been very painful for him.”

In court, another of Sarkozy’s lawyers, Christophe Ingrain, who had visited him every day, said Sarkozy would be safer out of prison than inside. “He has received threats against his life, has heard screaming at night and the urgent intervention in a adjacent room when a prisoner injured themselves,” he stated.

Current Status

The state prosecutor Damien Brunet requested that Sarkozy’s request for release be granted. The court will reveal its ruling on Monday afternoon.

Prison Conditions

The former president has been placed in isolation for his own safety, in an individual cell of about 9 sq metres, with his own washing facility and restroom. Two bodyguards are stationed nearby to ensure his safety.

Accounts suggested that he had been consuming solely yogurt in prison as he was concerned any food might have been tampered with. He had been given the opportunity to prepare his own meals but refused this.

Encouragement from the Public

His online presence last week shared a video of numerous correspondences, postcards and packages it said had been delivered to his attention, including a collection, a sweet treat and a volume. “No correspondence will go unanswered,” his account announced. “The end of the story has not yet been written.”

Items in Prison

Sarkozy took into prison a biography of Jesus as well as The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas’s novel in which an wrongly accused individual is imprisoned but breaks out to seek retribution.

Court Case Particulars

During Sarkozy’s three-month trial, the public prosecutor had informed the judges that Sarkozy engaged in 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 found not guilty of three separate charges of corruption, improper handling of state money 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 clandestine financial agreement with the Libyan regime formed the biggest corruption trial Sarkozy had encountered, he had already been found guilty in two separate cases and lost France’s highest distinction, the Légion d’honneur.

Sarkozy had previously become the first former French head of state forced to wear an monitoring device after being convicted in a different matter of dishonesty and influence peddling. In that case, he was given a one-year jail term but was able to complete it with an electronic tag worn around the ankle. He wore the tag for a quarter year before being allowed limited freedom.