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Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy has asserted that his period of incarceration has been “gruelling” and a “horrific experience” as he appeared via video link at a judicial proceeding regarding his petition to complete his jail term at home.

Legal Proceeding from Prison

The former leader, dressed in a navy blue suit, appeared on camera from prison on Monday, seated at a table with his legal representatives beside him. He informed the judges: “I want to commend 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 entered 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 2007 presidential election campaign from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

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

Unprecedented Significance

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 go behind bars.

Personal Statement

Sarkozy stated to the judges from prison: “I never had any idea or desire to ask Mr Gaddafi for any kind of financing … I will never confess to something I didn’t do … I never imagined that at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal that has been forced upon me. I confess it’s difficult, it’s very hard. It has an impact on any prisoner because it’s exhausting.”

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

Defense Lawyers Comments

His legal representative Jean-Michel Darrois, sitting next to him in the prison video link room, said: “Being in solitary confinement has been very hard for him.” He said of Sarkozy: “He’s a strong, robust and courageous man and this detention has been very painful for him.”

In court, a different legal representative, Christophe Ingrain, who had seen him daily, said Sarkozy would be more secure outside jail than inside. “He has faced death threats, has listened to shouts at night and the emergency response in a adjacent room when a prisoner self-harmed,” he said.

Current Status

The state prosecutor Damien Brunet asked that Sarkozy’s request for release be granted. The court will announce its decision on Monday afternoon.

Incarceration Details

Sarkozy has been held in solitary confinement for his own safety, in an private room of about 9 sq metres, with his own shower and toilet. Two bodyguards are occupying a neighbouring cell to protect him.

Accounts suggested that he had been consuming solely yogurt in prison as he feared any meal might have been tampered with. He had been offered the facilities to cook for himself but declined the offer.

Support from Outside

Sarkozy’s social media account last week shared a video of piles of letters, postcards and parcels it said had been delivered to his attention, including a collage, a sweet treat and a volume. “No correspondence will go unanswered,” his account declared. “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 Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas’s novel in which an wrongly accused individual is imprisoned but breaks out to seek retribution.

Court Case Particulars

During the lengthy court case, the state attorney had told the court that Sarkozy engaged in a “corrupt agreement” of corruption with one of the worst rulers of the last 30 years.

Sarkozy denied wrongdoing and said he had not been involved in a criminal conspiracy to seek election funding from Libya.

He was found not guilty of three distinct accusations of corruption, improper handling of state money and unlawful political financing. 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 Libyan regime formed the biggest corruption trial Sarkozy had faced, he had already been convicted in two separate cases and lost France’s highest distinction, the national recognition.

The former president had previously become the initial ex-leader forced to wear an monitoring device after being convicted in a different matter of corruption and influence peddling. In that situation, he was given a one-year jail term but was able to serve it with an electronic tag attached to his leg. He wore the tag for a quarter year before being allowed limited freedom.