🔗 Share this article

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 court hearing regarding his application to complete his jail term at home.

Legal Proceeding from Behind Bars

Sarkozy, wearing a dark blue attire, appeared on camera from jail on Monday, positioned at a desk with his lawyers beside him. He told the court: “I want to pay tribute to all the correctional officers, who are exceptionally humane, and who have eased this difficult situation – because it is a nightmare.”

Background of the Legal Situation

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

He has challenged the ruling, but judges ruled that because of the “exceptional gravity” of his conviction, he had to be incarcerated while the appeals process took its course.

Unprecedented Importance

Sarkozy, who was France’s conservative leader between 2007 and 2012, is the first former head of an EU country to serve time in prison, and the initial leader since WWII to be incarcerated.

Emotional Testimony

Sarkozy stated to the judges from prison: “I was completely unaware or intention to ask Mr Gaddafi for any kind of financing … I will not admit to something I didn’t do … 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 leaves a mark on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

He said he would not try to communicate 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 made them suffer a lot.”

Legal Team Observations

His legal representative Jean-Michel Darrois, positioned beside him in the prison video link room, said: “Being in isolation has been very hard for him.” He said of Sarkozy: “He’s a strong, durable and courageous man and this imprisonment has been very painful for him.”

In court, another of Sarkozy’s lawyers, Christophe Ingrain, who had seen him daily, said Sarkozy would be more secure out of prison than within. “He has received threats against his life, has heard screaming at night and the emergency response in a adjacent room when a prisoner self-harmed,” he said.

Current Status

The state prosecutor 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 placed in isolation for his own safety, in an private room of about 9 sq metres, with his own shower and restroom. Security personnel are occupying a neighbouring cell to protect him.

Accounts suggested that he had been consuming solely yogurt in prison as he was concerned any meal might have been tampered with. He had been offered the facilities to cook for himself but refused this.

Encouragement from the Public

Sarkozy’s social media account last week posted a video of numerous correspondences, cards and packages it said had been delivered to his attention, including a collection, a chocolate bar and a volume. “No correspondence will go unanswered,” his account declared. “The end of the story has not yet been determined.”

Items in Prison

Sarkozy brought with him a life story of Christ as well as The Count of Monte Cristo, the famous work in which an wrongly accused individual is imprisoned but escapes to take revenge.

Court Case Details

During Sarkozy’s three-month trial, the public prosecutor had informed the judges that Sarkozy engaged in a “corrupt agreement” of corruption with one of the most unspeakable dictators of the last three decades.

Sarkozy denied wrongdoing and said he had not been part of a illegal scheme to seek election funding from Libya.

He was found not guilty of three separate charges of dishonesty, improper handling of state money and illegal election campaign funding. After the state prosecutor also challenged these not guilty verdicts, Sarkozy will be re-tried on all the charges next year, including criminal conspiracy.

Prior Legal Issues

Although the allegations of a secret campaign funding pact with the Libyan regime formed the biggest corruption trial Sarkozy had encountered, he had already been found guilty in two separate cases and stripped of France’s highest distinction, the national recognition.

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