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The former French president has asserted that his time behind bars has been “draining” and an “ordeal” as he was present via remote connection at a judicial proceeding regarding his request to serve his sentence 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 commend all the prison staff, who are remarkably compassionate, and who have eased this difficult situation – because it is a nightmare.”

Context of the Legal Situation

Sarkozy was admitted to La Santé prison in Paris on 21 October, after being handed a five-year jail sentence for illegal collaboration over a plan to obtain funds for his election bid from the government of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has appealed against the verdict, but judges ruled that because of the “serious nature” of his conviction, he had to go to prison while the legal challenge took its course.

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 be imprisoned in prison, and the initial leader since WWII to be incarcerated.

Emotional Testimony

Sarkozy told the court 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 never imagined that at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal that has been imposed on me. I confess it’s difficult, it’s very hard. It leaves a mark 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 am patriotic, my family is in France. This ordeal has caused them pain a lot.”

Legal Team Comments

Sarkozy’s lawyer Jean-Michel Darrois, positioned beside 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 imprisonment has caused him great suffering.”

In court, another of Sarkozy’s lawyers, Christophe Ingrain, who had seen him daily, asserted Sarkozy would be safer out of prison than inside. “He has faced death threats, has heard screaming at night and the urgent intervention in a neighbouring cell when a prisoner injured themselves,” he said.

Current Status

The public attorney Damien Brunet requested that Sarkozy’s request for release be granted. The court will announce its decision on Monday afternoon.

Prison Conditions

Sarkozy has been held in solitary confinement for his own security, in an private room of about 97 square feet, with his own washing facility and toilet. Security personnel are stationed nearby to protect him.

Reports suggested 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 prepare his own meals but refused this.

Encouragement from the Public

His online presence last week shared a video of piles of letters, postcards 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 declared. “The final chapter has not yet been written.”

Items in Prison

The former leader took into prison a life story of Christ as well as the classic novel, the famous work in which an wrongly accused individual is imprisoned but escapes to seek retribution.

Court Case Details

During Sarkozy’s three-month trial, the public prosecutor had told the court that Sarkozy entered into a “Faustian pact of dishonesty with one of the worst rulers of the last three decades.

The accused maintained his innocence and said he had not been part of a criminal conspiracy to seek election funding from Libya.

He was acquitted of three separate charges of corruption, misuse of Libyan public funds and unlawful political financing. After the state prosecutor also appealed against these not guilty verdicts, Sarkozy will be re-tried on all the accusations next year, including illegal collaboration.

Previous Convictions

Although the claims of a secret campaign funding pact with the North African government formed the biggest corruption trial Sarkozy had faced, he had already been found guilty in two different proceedings and lost France’s top honor, the Légion d’honneur.

Sarkozy had previously become the initial ex-leader forced to wear an electronic tag 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 complete it with an ankle monitor attached to his leg. He wore the tag for three months before being allowed limited freedom.