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The former French president has stated that his period of incarceration has been “draining” and an “ordeal” as he appeared via remote connection at a judicial proceeding regarding his application to serve his sentence at home.

Court Appearance from Behind Bars

Sarkozy, 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 told the court: “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

Sarkozy entered the correctional facility in Paris on 21 October, after being handed a half-decade imprisonment for illegal collaboration over a plan to obtain funds for his 2007 presidential election campaign from the government of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has appealed against the verdict, but judges ruled that because of the “exceptional gravity” of his conviction, he had to be incarcerated while the appeals process took its course.

Historical Importance

Sarkozy, who was France’s conservative leader between 2007 and 2012, is the first former head of an EU country to be imprisoned in prison, and the first French postwar leader to go behind bars.

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 never confess 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 admit it’s hard, it’s extremely challenging. It leaves a mark on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

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

Defense Lawyers Comments

Sarkozy’s lawyer Jean-Michel Darrois, positioned beside him in the prison video link room, said: “Being in isolation has been very hard for him.” He commented on Sarkozy: “He’s a resilient, robust and brave man and this detention has been very painful for him.”

In court, a different legal representative, Christophe Ingrain, who had visited him every day, said Sarkozy would be safer out of prison than inside. “He has faced death threats, has heard screaming at night and the emergency response in a adjacent room when a prisoner injured themselves,” he said.

Current Status

The state prosecutor Damien Brunet requested that Sarkozy’s request for release be granted. The court will reveal its ruling on Monday afternoon.

Incarceration Details

The former president has been held in solitary confinement for his own safety, in an individual cell of about 97 square feet, with his own washing facility 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 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 video of piles of letters, postcards and parcels it said had been delivered to his attention, including a collage, a sweet treat and a book. “No correspondence will go unanswered,” his account declared. “The end of the story has not yet been determined.”

Personal Belongings

The former leader brought with him 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.

Legal Proceedings Details

During Sarkozy’s three-month trial, the public prosecutor had told the court that Sarkozy entered into a “Faustian pact of corruption with one of the most unspeakable dictators of the last 30 years.

The accused denied wrongdoing and said he had not been involved in a criminal conspiracy 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 challenged these not guilty verdicts, Sarkozy will be re-tried on all the charges next year, including criminal conspiracy.

Previous Convictions

Although the allegations of a secret campaign funding pact with the North African government formed the biggest corruption trial Sarkozy had encountered, he had already been convicted in two different proceedings and stripped of 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 convicted in a different matter of dishonesty and influence peddling. In that case, he was given a 12-month sentence but was able to serve it with an electronic tag attached to his leg. He had the device for a quarter year before being allowed limited freedom.