🔗 Share this article

The former French president has declared that his stay in prison has been “gruelling” and an “ordeal” as he was present via video link at a court hearing regarding his request to complete his jail term at home.

Legal Proceeding from Prison

The former leader, dressed in a navy blue suit, 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 eased this difficult situation – because it is a nightmare.”

Context of the Legal Situation

Sarkozy was admitted to the correctional facility in Paris on 21 October, after being handed a five-year jail sentence for illegal collaboration over a scheme to obtain funds for his election bid 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 conviction, he had to be incarcerated while the legal challenge proceeded.

Unprecedented Importance

The former leader, who was France’s rightwing president between 2007 and 2012, is the initial ex-leader of an EU country to serve time in prison, and the initial leader since WWII to go behind bars.

Personal Statement

The former president told the court from prison: “I was completely unaware or intention to ask Mr Gaddafi for any kind of financing … I will never confess to something I am innocent of … I could not have foreseen that at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal that has been imposed on me. I admit it’s hard, it’s very hard. It has an impact on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

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

Legal Team Comments

His legal representative Jean-Michel Darrois, positioned beside him in the prison video link room, said: “Being in isolation has been very hard for him.” He said of Sarkozy: “He’s a resilient, durable 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, asserted Sarkozy would be more secure outside jail than inside. “He has received threats against his life, has heard screaming at night and the urgent intervention 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 approved. The court will announce its decision on Monday afternoon.

Incarceration Details

Sarkozy has been held in solitary confinement for his own safety, in an individual cell of about 9 sq metres, with his own shower and restroom. Security personnel are occupying a neighbouring cell to ensure his safety.

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

Encouragement from the Public

Sarkozy’s social media account last week posted a recording of numerous correspondences, postcards and packages it claimed had been sent to him, including a collage, a sweet treat and a book. “No letter will go without a response,” his account declared. “The end of the story has not yet been written.”

Personal Belongings

Sarkozy 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 sentenced to jail but escapes to take revenge.

Legal Proceedings Details

During Sarkozy’s three-month trial, the state attorney had informed the judges that Sarkozy engaged in a “Faustian pact of dishonesty with one of the most unspeakable dictators of the last 30 years.

Sarkozy denied wrongdoing and said he had not been involved in a illegal scheme to obtain campaign finances from Libya.

He was found not guilty of three separate charges of corruption, improper handling of state money and unlawful political financing. After the public attorney also appealed against these not guilty verdicts, Sarkozy will be re-tried on all the charges next year, including criminal conspiracy.

Prior Legal Issues

Although the allegations of a clandestine financial agreement with the Libyan regime formed the most significant legal case Sarkozy had faced, he had already been found guilty in two different proceedings and lost France’s highest distinction, the national recognition.

Sarkozy had previously become the first former French head of state forced to wear an monitoring device after being found guilty in a separate case of corruption and influence peddling. In that case, he was given a one-year jail term 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.