Nicolas Sarkozy Characterizes Existence in Jail as ‘Exhausting’ and ‘a Horrific Experience’

Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy has stated that his time behind bars has been “gruelling” and an “ordeal” as he was present via remote connection 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 dark blue attire, appeared on camera from prison on Monday, positioned at a desk with his legal representatives beside him. He told the court: “I want to acknowledge all the correctional officers, who are exceptionally humane, and who have eased this difficult situation – because it is a nightmare.”

Background of the Legal Situation

Sarkozy was admitted to the correctional facility in Paris on 21 October, after being handed a half-decade imprisonment for illegal collaboration over a plan to secure financing 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 “serious nature” of his guilty verdict, he had to be incarcerated while the appeals process took its course.

Unprecedented Importance

Sarkozy, who was France’s rightwing president between 2007 and 2012, is the first former head of an EU country to be imprisoned in prison, and the initial leader since WWII to be incarcerated.

Emotional Testimony

Sarkozy 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 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 confess it’s hard, it’s extremely challenging. It leaves a mark on any prisoner because it’s exhausting.”

He said he would not try to communicate with any accused individuals or witnesses in the case. He said: “I’m French, I am patriotic, my family is in France. This ordeal has made them suffer a lot.”

Defense Lawyers Comments

His legal representative Jean-Michel Darrois, positioned beside him in the remote connection facility, said: “Being in solitary confinement has been extremely difficult for him.” He said of Sarkozy: “He’s a strong, 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 listened to shouts at night and the urgent intervention in a adjacent room when a prisoner injured themselves,” he stated.

Present Situation

The public attorney Damien Brunet asked that Sarkozy’s request for release be approved. The court will announce its decision on Monday afternoon.

Prison Conditions

The former president has been placed in isolation for his own safety, in an individual cell of about 9 sq metres, with his own washing facility and restroom. Two bodyguards are stationed nearby to ensure his safety.

Reports suggested 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.

Encouragement from Outside

Sarkozy’s social media account last week shared a recording of numerous correspondences, postcards and packages it said had been sent to him, including a collection, a sweet treat and a volume. “No correspondence will go unanswered,” his account announced. “The end of the story has not yet been determined.”

Items in Prison

Sarkozy took into prison a biography of Jesus as well as the classic novel, Alexandre Dumas’s novel in which an wrongly accused individual is imprisoned but breaks out to take revenge.

Court Case Details

During the lengthy court case, the public prosecutor had informed the judges that Sarkozy entered into a “Faustian pact of corruption with one of the worst rulers of the last 30 years.

Sarkozy maintained his innocence and stated he had not been part of a criminal conspiracy to seek election funding from Libya.

He was found not guilty of three separate charges of dishonesty, misuse of Libyan public funds and illegal election campaign funding. After the public attorney also challenged these not guilty verdicts, Sarkozy will be re-tried 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 different proceedings and stripped of France’s highest distinction, the Légion d’honneur.

Sarkozy had previously become the first former French head of state forced to wear an monitoring device after being convicted in a separate case of dishonesty and influence peddling. In that situation, he was given a 12-month sentence but was able to complete it with an ankle monitor worn around the ankle. He had the device for three months before being allowed limited freedom.