🔗 Share this article

Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy has declared that his stay in prison has been “exhausting” and an “ordeal” as he was present via video link at a judicial proceeding regarding his request to serve his sentence at home.

Legal Proceeding from Prison

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

Context of the Case

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 plan to secure financing for his 2007 presidential election campaign from the government of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has appealed against the ruling, but the court ruled that because of the “serious nature” of his conviction, he had to be incarcerated while the legal challenge took its course.

Historical Importance

Sarkozy, who was France’s conservative leader between 2007 and 2012, is the first former head of an EU country to be imprisoned in prison, and the first French postwar leader to be incarcerated.

Personal Statement

The former president told the court from prison: “I never had any idea or desire 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 ordeal that has been forced upon me. I admit it’s difficult, it’s very hard. It has an impact on any prisoner because it’s exhausting.”

He said he would not attempt to enter into contact with any defendants or testifiers in the case. He declared: “I’m French, I love my country, my family is in France. This ordeal has made them suffer a lot.”

Defense Lawyers Observations

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

In court, a different legal representative, Christophe Ingrain, who had visited him every day, said Sarkozy would be more secure outside jail than within. “He has received threats against his life, has listened to shouts at night and the emergency response in a adjacent room when a prisoner self-harmed,” he said.

Current Status

The public attorney Damien Brunet asked that Sarkozy’s request for release be approved. The court will reveal its ruling on Monday afternoon.

Incarceration Details

Sarkozy has been held in solitary confinement for his own safety, in an individual cell of about 97 square feet, with his own washing facility and restroom. Security personnel are occupying a neighbouring cell to ensure his safety.

Accounts suggested that he had been eating only yoghurt in prison as he was concerned any food might have been tampered with. He had been given the opportunity to cook for himself but declined the offer.

Support from the Public

His online presence last week posted a recording of piles of letters, postcards and parcels it claimed had been sent to him, including a collage, a chocolate bar and a book. “No correspondence will go unanswered,” his account announced. “The final chapter has not yet been written.”

Personal Belongings

The former leader took into prison a biography of Jesus as well as The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas’s novel in which an innocent man is sentenced to jail but escapes to seek retribution.

Legal Proceedings Details

During the lengthy court case, the public prosecutor had told the court that Sarkozy entered into a “corrupt agreement” of dishonesty with one of the most unspeakable dictators of the last three decades.

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

He was acquitted of three separate charges of corruption, misuse of Libyan public funds and unlawful political financing. After the state prosecutor also appealed against 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 most significant legal case Sarkozy had faced, he had already been found guilty in two separate cases and lost France’s highest distinction, the national recognition.

Sarkozy had previously become the first former French head of state forced to wear an electronic tag after being convicted in a separate case of corruption and improper sway. In that situation, he was given a 12-month sentence but was able to complete it with an ankle monitor worn around the ankle. He had the device for a quarter year before being granted conditional release.