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Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy has declared that his time behind bars has been “gruelling” and a “nightmare” as he was present via remote connection at a court hearing regarding his petition to serve his sentence at home.

Court Appearance from Prison

Sarkozy, 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 pay tribute to all the correctional officers, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this nightmare bearable – because it is a horrific experience.”

Background of the Legal Situation

Sarkozy was admitted to La Santé prison in Paris on 21 October, after being handed a five-year jail sentence for criminal conspiracy over a plan to obtain funds for his election bid 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 legal challenge took its course.

Unprecedented Significance

The former leader, who served as 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

The former president told the court from prison: “I never had any idea or intention to ask Mr Gaddafi for any kind of financing … I will not admit to something I didn’t do … I could not have foreseen 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 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 am patriotic, my family is in France. This ordeal has caused them pain a lot.”

Legal Team Comments

Sarkozy’s lawyer 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 said of Sarkozy: “He’s a resilient, robust and brave man and this detention has been very painful for him.”

In court, another of Sarkozy’s lawyers, Christophe Ingrain, who had seen him daily, said Sarkozy would be safer 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 self-harmed,” he stated.

Current Status

The state prosecutor Damien Brunet requested that Sarkozy’s request for release 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 individual cell of about 97 square feet, with his own washing facility 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 feared any food might have been tampered with. He had been given the opportunity to prepare his own meals but refused this.

Encouragement from the Public

His online presence last week posted a video of numerous correspondences, cards and parcels it said had been sent to him, including a collection, a sweet treat and a volume. “No letter will go without a response,” his account declared. “The end of the story has not yet been determined.”

Items in Prison

Sarkozy took into prison a life story of Christ as well as The Count of Monte Cristo, the famous work in which an innocent man is sentenced to jail but breaks out to take revenge.

Legal Proceedings Details

During the lengthy court case, the public prosecutor had informed the judges that Sarkozy engaged in a “Faustian pact of dishonesty with one of the worst rulers of the last three decades.

Sarkozy maintained his innocence and stated he had not been part of a illegal scheme to obtain campaign finances from Libya.

He was acquitted of three distinct accusations 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 judged again on all the accusations next year, including criminal conspiracy.

Prior Legal Issues

Although the allegations of a secret campaign funding pact with the North African government formed the most significant legal case 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 first former French head of state 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 12-month sentence but was able to serve it with an electronic tag attached to his leg. He had the device for a quarter year before being granted conditional release.