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The former French president has asserted that his time behind bars has been “exhausting” and a “nightmare” as he appeared via remote connection at a court hearing regarding his request to complete his jail term at home.

Legal Proceeding from Behind Bars

Sarkozy, dressed in a navy blue suit, was visible on screen from prison on Monday, positioned at a desk with his lawyers beside him. He informed the judges: “I want to commend all the prison staff, who are remarkably compassionate, and who have eased this difficult situation – because it is a nightmare.”

Background of the Legal Situation

The former president entered the correctional facility in Paris on 21 October, after being handed a five-year jail sentence for criminal conspiracy 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 ruling, but judges ruled that because of the “exceptional gravity” of his conviction, he had to go to prison while the legal challenge took its course.

Historical Importance

Sarkozy, who served as France’s conservative leader 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 be incarcerated.

Emotional Testimony

The former president stated to the judges from prison: “I was completely unaware 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 admit it’s hard, it’s very hard. It has an impact on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

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

Defense Lawyers Observations

Sarkozy’s lawyer Jean-Michel Darrois, sitting next to him in the prison video link room, stated: “Being in isolation has been very hard for him.” He said of Sarkozy: “He’s a resilient, robust and brave man and this imprisonment has been very painful for him.”

In court, another of Sarkozy’s lawyers, Christophe Ingrain, who had visited him every day, said Sarkozy would be more secure out of prison than within. “He has received threats against his life, has heard screaming at night and the emergency response in a adjacent room when a prisoner self-harmed,” he stated.

Present Situation

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

Prison Conditions

Sarkozy has been placed in isolation for his own safety, in an individual cell of about 97 square feet, with his own shower and restroom. Two bodyguards are stationed nearby to protect him.

Reports indicated that he had been eating only yoghurt in prison as he was concerned any meal might have been tampered with. He had been offered the facilities to cook for himself but refused this.

Encouragement from Outside

Sarkozy’s social media account last week posted 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 correspondence will go unanswered,” his account announced. “The final chapter has not yet been written.”

Personal Belongings

Sarkozy took into prison 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.

Court Case Particulars

During the lengthy court case, the state attorney had informed the judges that Sarkozy entered into a “Faustian pact of corruption with one of the most unspeakable dictators of the last 30 years.

Sarkozy maintained his innocence 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, misuse of Libyan public funds and illegal election campaign funding. After the public attorney also appealed against these not guilty verdicts, 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 faced, he had already been found guilty in two separate cases 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 dishonesty and influence peddling. In that situation, he was given a one-year jail term but was able to complete it with an electronic tag worn around the ankle. He had the device for a quarter year before being granted conditional release.