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The former French president has stated that his period of incarceration has been “draining” and a “nightmare” as he appeared via remote connection at a judicial proceeding regarding his request to complete his jail term at home.

Legal Proceeding from Prison

Sarkozy, wearing a navy blue suit, appeared on camera from jail on Monday, positioned at a desk with his legal representatives beside him. He informed the judges: “I want to pay tribute to all the correctional officers, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this nightmare bearable – because it is a nightmare.”

Context 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 illegal collaboration over a plan to secure financing 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 “exceptional gravity” of his conviction, he had to go to prison while the legal challenge took its course.

Unprecedented Importance

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 initial leader since WWII to be incarcerated.

Personal Statement

The former president stated to the judges from prison: “I was completely unaware or desire to ask Mr Gaddafi for any kind of financing … I will not admit to something I am innocent of … I could not have foreseen that at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s an challenge that has been forced upon me. I admit it’s hard, it’s very hard. It has an impact on any prisoner because it’s exhausting.”

He stated he would not try to communicate with any accused individuals or witnesses in the case. He said: “I’m French, I am patriotic, 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 extremely difficult for him.” He commented on Sarkozy: “He’s a resilient, robust and brave man and this imprisonment has caused him great suffering.”

In court, a different legal representative, Christophe Ingrain, who had seen him daily, asserted Sarkozy would be safer out of prison than inside. “He has received threats against his life, has listened to shouts at night and the urgent intervention in a adjacent room when a prisoner self-harmed,” he said.

Current Status

The public attorney Damien Brunet requested that Sarkozy’s petition for freedom be granted. 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 restroom. Security personnel are occupying a neighbouring cell to ensure his safety.

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

Encouragement from Outside

Sarkozy’s social media account last week shared a video of piles of letters, postcards and packages it said had been sent to him, including a collection, a chocolate bar and a volume. “No letter will go unanswered,” his account announced. “The final chapter has not yet been written.”

Items in Prison

Sarkozy took into prison a life story of Christ as well as the classic novel, the famous work in which an wrongly accused individual is imprisoned but breaks out to seek retribution.

Court Case Details

During Sarkozy’s three-month trial, the state attorney had told the court that Sarkozy entered into a “Faustian pact of dishonesty with one of the worst rulers of the last three decades.

Sarkozy denied wrongdoing and stated he had not been part of a illegal scheme to obtain campaign finances from Libya.

He was acquitted of three separate charges of corruption, improper handling of state money and unlawful political financing. After the public attorney also challenged these acquittals, Sarkozy will be judged again on all the charges next year, including illegal collaboration.

Previous Convictions

Although the claims of a clandestine financial agreement with the North African government formed the biggest corruption trial Sarkozy had faced, he had already been found guilty in two different proceedings and stripped of France’s highest distinction, the Légion d’honneur.

Sarkozy had previously become the first former French head of state forced to wear an electronic tag after being convicted in a different matter of dishonesty and improper sway. In that case, he was given a one-year jail term but was able to complete it with an electronic tag attached to his leg. He had the device for a quarter year before being granted conditional release.