🔗 Share this article

The former French president has declared that his period of incarceration has been “exhausting” and a “horrific experience” as he appeared via video link at a judicial proceeding regarding his request to complete his jail term at home.

Legal Proceeding from Behind Bars

The former leader, dressed in a navy blue suit, appeared on camera from jail 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 remarkably compassionate, and who have made this nightmare bearable – because it is a nightmare.”

Background of the Case

The former president was admitted to the correctional facility in Paris on 21 October, after being handed a five-year jail sentence for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to obtain funds for his 2007 presidential election campaign from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

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

Unprecedented Significance

Sarkozy, who was France’s rightwing president 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.

Personal Statement

Sarkozy stated to the judges 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 ordeal that has been imposed on me. I admit it’s hard, it’s very hard. It has an impact 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 love my country, my family is in France. This situation has made them suffer a lot.”

Defense Lawyers Observations

Sarkozy’s lawyer Jean-Michel Darrois, sitting next to him in the prison video link room, said: “Being in isolation has been extremely difficult for him.” He commented on Sarkozy: “He’s a strong, durable 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, asserted Sarkozy would be more secure out of prison than within. “He has faced death threats, has listened to shouts at night and the urgent intervention in a adjacent room when a prisoner injured themselves,” he said.

Current Status

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

Incarceration Details

The former president has been placed in isolation for his own security, in an individual cell of about 9 sq metres, with his own washing facility and toilet. Two bodyguards are occupying a neighbouring cell to protect him.

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

Support from Outside

Sarkozy’s social media account last week shared a recording of numerous correspondences, postcards and packages it claimed had been sent to him, including a collage, a chocolate bar and a volume. “No letter will go unanswered,” his account announced. “The end of the story has not yet been written.”

Personal Belongings

Sarkozy took into prison a biography of Jesus as well as the classic novel, Alexandre Dumas’s novel in which an innocent man is sentenced to jail but escapes to seek retribution.

Court Case Details

During Sarkozy’s three-month trial, the public prosecutor had informed the judges that Sarkozy engaged in a “Faustian pact of corruption with one of the worst rulers of the last three decades.

The accused maintained his innocence and stated he had not been part of a illegal scheme to seek election funding from Libya.

He was found not guilty of three separate charges of corruption, misuse of Libyan public funds and unlawful political financing. After the state prosecutor also challenged these acquittals, Sarkozy will be judged again on all the accusations next year, including illegal collaboration.

Prior Legal Issues

Although the claims 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 different proceedings and stripped of France’s highest distinction, the Légion d’honneur.

The former president had previously become the initial ex-leader forced to wear an electronic tag after being found guilty in a different matter of dishonesty and improper sway. In that situation, he was given a 12-month sentence but was able to serve it with an ankle monitor attached to his leg. He had the device for three months before being allowed limited freedom.