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Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy has stated that his time behind bars has been “draining” 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 dark blue attire, was visible on screen from jail on Monday, seated at a table with his legal representatives beside him. He informed the judges: “I want to acknowledge all the correctional officers, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this nightmare bearable – because it is a nightmare.”

Context of the Case

Sarkozy entered the correctional facility in Paris on 21 October, after receiving a half-decade imprisonment for illegal collaboration over a plan to secure financing for his 2007 presidential election campaign from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has appealed against the verdict, but the court ruled that because of the “serious nature” of his guilty verdict, he had to be incarcerated while the appeals process proceeded.

Unprecedented Importance

Sarkozy, 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 first French postwar leader to go behind bars.

Emotional Testimony

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 am innocent of … I never imagined that at 70 years of age, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal 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 said he would not attempt to enter into contact with any defendants or witnesses in the case. He said: “I’m French, I love my country, my family is in France. This ordeal has made them suffer a lot.”

Legal Team Comments

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

In court, a different legal representative, Christophe Ingrain, who had visited him every day, asserted Sarkozy would be safer outside jail than within. “He has received threats against his life, has heard screaming at night and the urgent intervention in a adjacent room when a prisoner injured themselves,” he stated.

Current Status

The public attorney Damien Brunet requested that Sarkozy’s petition for freedom be granted. The court will reveal its ruling on Monday afternoon.

Incarceration Details

Sarkozy has been placed in isolation for his own security, in an individual cell of about 97 square feet, with his own shower and toilet. Security personnel are stationed nearby to protect him.

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

Encouragement from Outside

Sarkozy’s social media account last week posted a recording of piles of letters, cards and parcels it claimed had been delivered to his attention, including a collection, a chocolate bar and a book. “No letter will go without a response,” his account announced. “The final chapter has not yet been determined.”

Items in Prison

The former leader brought with him a life story of Christ as well as The Count of Monte Cristo, the famous work in which an wrongly accused individual is sentenced to jail but escapes to take revenge.

Legal Proceedings Details

During the lengthy court case, the public prosecutor had told the court that Sarkozy entered into a “Faustian pact of corruption with one of the worst rulers of the last three decades.

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

He was acquitted of three separate charges of corruption, improper handling of state money and illegal election campaign funding. After the state prosecutor also appealed against these acquittals, Sarkozy will be judged again on all the charges next year, including criminal conspiracy.

Prior Legal Issues

Although the claims of a clandestine financial agreement with the North African government formed the most significant legal case Sarkozy had faced, he had already been convicted in two different proceedings and lost France’s top honor, the Légion d’honneur.

The former president had previously become the first former French head of state forced to wear an monitoring device after being convicted in a separate case of corruption and influence peddling. In that situation, he was given a one-year jail term but was able to serve it with an ankle monitor attached to his leg. He wore the tag for three months before being granted conditional release.