🔗 Share this article

Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy has asserted that his period of incarceration has been “gruelling” and an “ordeal” as he appeared via remote connection at a court hearing regarding his application to complete his jail term at home.

Legal Proceeding from Prison

The former leader, dressed in a dark blue attire, appeared on camera from prison on Monday, positioned at a desk with his lawyers beside him. He told the court: “I want to commend all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this nightmare bearable – because it is a nightmare.”

Background of the Case

The former president entered the correctional facility in Paris on 21 October, after receiving a five-year jail sentence for illegal collaboration over a scheme to obtain funds for his 2007 presidential election campaign from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has challenged the ruling, but the court ruled that because of the “serious nature” of his guilty verdict, he had to go to prison while the appeals process took its course.

Unprecedented 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.

Personal Statement

Sarkozy told the court 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 am innocent of … I never imagined that at 70 years of age, I’d be in prison. It’s an challenge that has been forced upon me. I admit it’s difficult, it’s extremely challenging. It leaves a mark on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

He stated he would not try to communicate with any accused individuals or testifiers in the case. He said: “I’m French, I am patriotic, my family is in France. This situation has made them suffer a lot.”

Defense Lawyers Observations

His legal representative Jean-Michel Darrois, sitting next to him in the prison video link room, stated: “Being in solitary confinement has been extremely difficult for him.” He commented on Sarkozy: “He’s a resilient, durable and brave man and this imprisonment 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 more secure out of prison than within. “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 state prosecutor Damien Brunet asked that Sarkozy’s request for release be granted. The court will reveal its ruling on Monday afternoon.

Prison Conditions

The former president has been held in solitary confinement for his own security, in an private room of about 97 square feet, with his own washing facility and toilet. Security personnel are occupying a neighbouring cell to protect him.

Accounts suggested 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 cook for himself but refused this.

Encouragement from Outside

Sarkozy’s social media account last week posted a video of piles of letters, postcards and packages it claimed had been delivered to his attention, including a collection, a sweet treat and a volume. “No correspondence will go without a response,” his account declared. “The final chapter has not yet been determined.”

Personal Belongings

The former leader 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.

Legal Proceedings Particulars

During the lengthy court case, the public prosecutor had informed the judges that Sarkozy entered into a “Faustian pact of dishonesty with one of the most unspeakable dictators of the last three decades.

The accused denied wrongdoing and stated he had not been part of a criminal conspiracy to seek election funding from Libya.

He was acquitted of three distinct accusations of dishonesty, improper handling of state money and illegal election campaign funding. After the public attorney also appealed against these acquittals, Sarkozy will be judged again on all the accusations next year, including criminal conspiracy.

Previous Convictions

Although the allegations of a clandestine financial agreement with the Libyan regime formed the biggest corruption trial Sarkozy had faced, he had already been found guilty in two different proceedings and stripped of France’s top honor, the national recognition.

Sarkozy had previously become the initial ex-leader forced to wear an monitoring device after being found guilty in a separate case 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 wore the tag for three months before being allowed limited freedom.