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The former French president has asserted that his time behind bars has been “exhausting” and an “ordeal” as he appeared via remote connection at a judicial proceeding regarding his application to complete his jail term at home.

Court Appearance from Behind Bars

The former leader, dressed in a navy blue suit, was visible on screen from jail on Monday, positioned at a desk with his lawyers beside him. He informed the judges: “I want to commend all the prison staff, who are remarkably compassionate, and who have made this nightmare bearable – because it is a horrific experience.”

Context of the Legal Situation

The former president was admitted to La Santé prison in Paris on 21 October, after being handed a half-decade imprisonment for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to obtain funds for his election bid from the government of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has appealed against the verdict, but judges ruled that because of the “exceptional gravity” of his guilty verdict, he had to be incarcerated while the appeals process 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 go behind bars.

Emotional Testimony

The former president stated to the judges 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 didn’t do … I could not have foreseen that at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s an challenge that has been imposed on me. I confess it’s hard, it’s extremely challenging. It has an impact on any prisoner because it’s exhausting.”

He stated he would not attempt to enter into contact with any accused individuals or witnesses in the case. He declared: “I’m French, I am patriotic, my family is in France. This situation has made them suffer a lot.”

Defense Lawyers Comments

Sarkozy’s lawyer Jean-Michel Darrois, positioned beside him in the prison video link room, said: “Being in isolation has been extremely difficult for him.” He commented on Sarkozy: “He’s a resilient, robust and courageous man and this imprisonment has caused him great suffering.”

In court, a different legal representative, Christophe Ingrain, who had seen him daily, said Sarkozy would be safer out of prison than within. “He has received threats against his life, has heard screaming at night and the emergency response in a neighbouring cell when a prisoner self-harmed,” he stated.

Present Situation

The state prosecutor Damien Brunet requested 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 97 square feet, with his own shower and restroom. Security personnel are occupying a neighbouring cell to ensure his safety.

Reports indicated that he had been eating only yoghurt in prison as he was concerned any meal might have been contaminated. He had been offered the facilities to cook for himself but refused this.

Support from Outside

His online presence last week posted a recording of piles of letters, postcards and packages it claimed had been sent to him, including a collection, a sweet treat and a book. “No letter will go unanswered,” his account announced. “The end of the story has not yet been written.”

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 innocent man is imprisoned but breaks out to take revenge.

Legal Proceedings Details

During Sarkozy’s three-month trial, the public prosecutor had told the court that Sarkozy engaged in a “Faustian pact of dishonesty with one of the most unspeakable dictators of the last 30 years.

Sarkozy maintained his innocence and said he had not been involved in a criminal conspiracy to obtain campaign finances from Libya.

He was acquitted of three distinct accusations of dishonesty, misuse of Libyan public funds and unlawful political financing. After the state prosecutor also appealed against these acquittals, Sarkozy will be re-tried on all the charges next year, including illegal collaboration.

Prior Legal Issues

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 separate cases and stripped of France’s top honor, the Légion d’honneur.

The former president had previously become the initial ex-leader forced to wear an monitoring device after being convicted in a separate case of corruption and improper sway. In that case, he was given a one-year jail term but was able to complete it with an electronic tag worn around the ankle. He wore the tag for a quarter year before being granted conditional release.