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Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy has stated that his stay in prison has been “gruelling” and a “horrific experience” as he appeared via video link at a court hearing regarding his petition to serve his sentence at home.

Court Appearance from Behind Bars

The former leader, wearing a dark blue attire, appeared on camera from jail on Monday, positioned at a desk with his legal representatives beside him. He told the court: “I want to acknowledge all the prison staff, who are remarkably compassionate, and who have eased this difficult situation – because it is a horrific experience.”

Context of the Legal Situation

Sarkozy was admitted to the correctional facility in Paris on 21 October, after being handed a five-year jail sentence for illegal collaboration over a plan to obtain funds for his 2007 presidential election campaign from the government of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has challenged the verdict, 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.

Historical Significance

Sarkozy, who served as France’s rightwing president between 2007 and 2012, is the first former head of an EU country to serve time 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 not admit to something I didn’t do … I never imagined that at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal that has been imposed on me. I admit it’s hard, it’s very hard. It leaves a mark on any prisoner because it’s exhausting.”

He stated he would not attempt to enter into contact with any defendants 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 Comments

His legal representative Jean-Michel Darrois, positioned beside him in the remote connection facility, said: “Being in solitary confinement has been very hard for him.” He said of Sarkozy: “He’s a strong, robust and brave man and this imprisonment has caused him great suffering.”

In court, another of Sarkozy’s lawyers, Christophe Ingrain, who had seen him daily, asserted Sarkozy would be more secure outside jail than within. “He has faced death threats, has heard screaming at night and the urgent intervention in a neighbouring cell when a prisoner injured themselves,” he stated.

Current Status

The state prosecutor Damien Brunet asked that Sarkozy’s petition for freedom be granted. The court will announce its decision on Monday afternoon.

Incarceration Details

Sarkozy has been placed in isolation for his own safety, in an private room of about 97 square feet, with his own shower and toilet. Two bodyguards are occupying a neighbouring cell to protect him.

Reports 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 declined the offer.

Encouragement from Outside

Sarkozy’s social media account last week shared a video of piles of letters, postcards and packages it said had been delivered to his attention, including a collection, a sweet treat and a book. “No letter will go unanswered,” his account declared. “The final chapter has not yet been determined.”

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 Details

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

The accused maintained his innocence and said he had not been involved in a illegal scheme to seek election funding from Libya.

He was found not guilty of three distinct accusations of corruption, misuse of Libyan public funds and unlawful political financing. After the state prosecutor also challenged these not guilty verdicts, 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 most significant legal case Sarkozy had encountered, he had already been convicted in two different proceedings and stripped of France’s highest distinction, the national recognition.

Sarkozy had previously become the first former French head of state forced to wear an monitoring device after being found guilty in a separate case of corruption and influence peddling. In that case, he was given a one-year jail term but was able to complete it with an ankle monitor worn around the ankle. He wore the tag for a quarter year before being granted conditional release.