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Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy has declared that his period of incarceration has been “exhausting” and a “nightmare” as he was present via video link at a judicial proceeding regarding his request to complete his jail term at home.

Legal Proceeding from Behind Bars

The former leader, dressed in a navy blue suit, appeared on camera from prison on Monday, seated at a table with his legal representatives beside him. He informed the judges: “I want to commend all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, and who have eased this difficult situation – because it is a horrific experience.”

Context of the Case

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

He has challenged the ruling, but the court ruled that because of the “exceptional gravity” of his guilty verdict, he had to be incarcerated while the legal challenge took its course.

Unprecedented Importance

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

Personal Statement

The former president 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 imposed on me. I admit it’s difficult, it’s extremely challenging. It has an impact on any prisoner because it’s exhausting.”

He stated he would not attempt to enter into contact 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 made them suffer a lot.”

Legal Team Comments

His legal representative Jean-Michel Darrois, sitting next to him in the prison video link room, said: “Being in isolation has been extremely difficult for him.” He commented on Sarkozy: “He’s a strong, durable and brave man and this imprisonment has caused him great suffering.”

In court, a different legal representative, Christophe Ingrain, who had seen him daily, asserted Sarkozy would be safer outside jail than within. “He has faced death threats, has listened to shouts at night and the urgent intervention in a neighbouring cell when a prisoner injured themselves,” he said.

Present Situation

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

Incarceration Details

Sarkozy 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. Two bodyguards are occupying a neighbouring cell to ensure his safety.

Reports suggested that he had been eating only yoghurt in prison as he feared any meal might have been tampered with. He had been given the opportunity to prepare his own meals but declined the offer.

Support from Outside

His online presence last week posted a video of numerous correspondences, postcards and parcels it claimed had been delivered to his attention, including a collection, a chocolate bar and a book. “No correspondence will go unanswered,” his account declared. “The end of the story has not yet been written.”

Personal Belongings

The former leader took into prison a life story of Christ 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.

Court Case Details

During the lengthy court case, the state attorney had told the court that Sarkozy engaged in a “Faustian pact of dishonesty with one of the worst rulers of the last 30 years.

The accused denied wrongdoing and said he had not been involved in a criminal conspiracy to seek election funding from Libya.

He was found not guilty of three distinct accusations of dishonesty, improper handling of state money and unlawful political financing. After the state prosecutor 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 clandestine financial agreement with the North African government formed the most significant legal case Sarkozy had faced, he had already been found guilty in two different proceedings 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 electronic tag after being convicted in a different matter of corruption and influence peddling. In that case, he was given a one-year jail term but was able to complete it with an ankle monitor attached to his leg. He had the device for three months before being granted conditional release.