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Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy has asserted that his time behind bars has been “draining” and a “nightmare” as he appeared via remote connection at a judicial proceeding regarding his request to complete his jail term at home.

Court Appearance from Behind Bars

The former leader, wearing a navy blue suit, appeared on camera from jail on Monday, seated at a table with his lawyers 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 horrific experience.”

Background of the Case

The former president was admitted to La Santé prison in Paris on 21 October, after receiving a half-decade imprisonment for illegal collaboration over a plan to obtain funds for his election bid from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has appealed against the verdict, but the court ruled that because of the “exceptional gravity” of his conviction, he had to go to prison while the appeals process proceeded.

Unprecedented Significance

The former leader, who served as France’s rightwing president between 2007 and 2012, is the first former head of an EU country to serve time in prison, and the first French postwar leader to go behind bars.

Emotional Testimony

Sarkozy stated to the judges from prison: “I was completely unaware or desire to ask Mr Gaddafi for any kind of financing … I will not admit to something I am innocent of … 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 extremely challenging. It has an impact 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 love my country, my family is in France. This situation has caused them pain a lot.”

Legal Team Observations

His legal representative 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, durable and courageous man and this imprisonment has been very painful for him.”

In court, a different legal representative, Christophe Ingrain, who had visited him every day, said Sarkozy would be more secure outside jail than inside. “He has received threats against his life, has listened to shouts at night and the urgent intervention in a adjacent room when a prisoner injured themselves,” he said.

Present Situation

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

Prison Conditions

Sarkozy has been placed in isolation for his own security, in an private room of about 9 sq metres, with his own shower and toilet. Two bodyguards are stationed nearby to protect him.

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

Support from Outside

Sarkozy’s social media account last week posted a video of numerous correspondences, postcards and packages it claimed had been delivered to his attention, including a collage, a sweet treat and a volume. “No correspondence will go without a response,” his account declared. “The end of the story has not yet been determined.”

Items in Prison

The former leader 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 imprisoned but escapes to seek retribution.

Court Case Particulars

During Sarkozy’s three-month trial, 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 three decades.

Sarkozy denied wrongdoing and stated he had not been part of a criminal conspiracy to seek election funding from Libya.

He was acquitted of three separate charges of dishonesty, misuse of Libyan public funds and illegal election campaign funding. After the state prosecutor also appealed against these not guilty verdicts, Sarkozy will be judged again on all the accusations next year, including illegal collaboration.

Previous Convictions

Although the allegations of a clandestine financial agreement with the Libyan regime formed the biggest corruption trial Sarkozy had encountered, 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 first former French head of state forced to wear an monitoring device after being convicted in a different matter of dishonesty 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.