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Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy has declared that his period of incarceration has been “exhausting” and a “horrific experience” as he was present via remote connection at a court hearing regarding his request to serve his sentence at home.

Legal Proceeding from Behind Bars

The former leader, dressed in a dark blue attire, appeared on camera from jail on Monday, positioned at a desk with his legal representatives beside him. He informed the judges: “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

The former president was admitted to the correctional facility in Paris on 21 October, after receiving a half-decade imprisonment for criminal conspiracy 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 ruling, but judges ruled that because of the “exceptional gravity” of his guilty verdict, he had to go to prison while the legal challenge proceeded.

Historical Importance

Sarkozy, who served as France’s conservative leader between 2007 and 2012, is the first former head of an EU country to be imprisoned in prison, and the first French postwar leader 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 ordeal that has been forced upon 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 try to communicate with any defendants or witnesses in the case. He said: “I’m French, I love my country, my family is in France. This situation has caused them pain a lot.”

Legal Team Comments

Sarkozy’s lawyer Jean-Michel Darrois, positioned beside him in the remote connection facility, said: “Being in solitary confinement has been extremely difficult for him.” He commented on Sarkozy: “He’s a resilient, durable and brave man and this detention 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 emergency response in a adjacent room when a prisoner self-harmed,” he stated.

Present Situation

The state prosecutor Damien Brunet requested that Sarkozy’s request for release be approved. The court will reveal its ruling 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 toilet. Security personnel are stationed nearby to ensure his safety.

Accounts 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.

Support from Outside

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

Items in Prison

The former leader brought with him 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 state attorney had informed the judges that Sarkozy engaged in a “corrupt agreement” of corruption with one of the worst rulers of the last three decades.

Sarkozy maintained his innocence and stated he had not been involved in a criminal conspiracy 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 challenged these acquittals, Sarkozy will be judged again on all the charges next year, including criminal conspiracy.

Previous Convictions

Although the claims of a secret campaign funding pact with the Libyan regime formed the biggest corruption trial Sarkozy had encountered, he had already been convicted 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 electronic tag after being found guilty in a separate case of corruption and influence peddling. In that situation, he was given a 12-month sentence but was able to serve it with an ankle monitor worn around the ankle. He had the device for a quarter year before being granted conditional release.