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The former French president has asserted that his stay in prison has been “exhausting” and a “nightmare” as he appeared via video link at a court hearing regarding his application to complete his jail term at home.

Legal Proceeding from Prison

The former leader, dressed in a dark blue attire, appeared on camera from jail on Monday, positioned at a desk with his legal representatives beside him. He told the court: “I want to pay tribute to all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, and who have eased this difficult situation – because it is a horrific experience.”

Context of the Legal Situation

The former president was admitted to the correctional facility in Paris on 21 October, after receiving a half-decade imprisonment for illegal collaboration over a scheme to obtain funds for his 2007 presidential election campaign from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has challenged the verdict, but the court ruled that because of the “exceptional gravity” of his conviction, he had to be incarcerated while the legal challenge proceeded.

Unprecedented Significance

Sarkozy, who was France’s rightwing president between 2007 and 2012, is the initial ex-leader of an EU country to be imprisoned in prison, and the initial leader since WWII to be incarcerated.

Personal Statement

Sarkozy told the court from prison: “I was completely unaware or intention to ask Mr Gaddafi for any kind of financing … I will never confess to something I didn’t do … I never imagined that at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s an challenge 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 said he would not try to communicate with any accused individuals or testifiers in the case. He declared: “I’m French, I love my country, my family is in France. This ordeal has made them suffer a lot.”

Legal Team Comments

His legal representative Jean-Michel Darrois, positioned beside him in the prison video link room, said: “Being in isolation has been very hard for him.” He said of Sarkozy: “He’s a resilient, robust and courageous 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 outside jail than within. “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 requested that Sarkozy’s petition for freedom be approved. The court will announce its decision on Monday afternoon.

Incarceration Details

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

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.

Encouragement from Outside

His online presence last week posted a recording of piles of letters, postcards and parcels it claimed had been delivered to his attention, including a collection, a sweet treat and a book. “No correspondence will go without a response,” his account declared. “The end of the story has not yet been written.”

Items in Prison

Sarkozy brought with him a life story of Christ as well as the classic novel, Alexandre Dumas’s novel in which an innocent man is sentenced to jail but escapes to seek retribution.

Legal Proceedings Particulars

During Sarkozy’s three-month trial, the public prosecutor had informed the judges that Sarkozy engaged in a “corrupt agreement” of dishonesty with one of the most unspeakable dictators of the last three decades.

The accused maintained his innocence and stated he had not been involved in a illegal scheme to obtain campaign finances from Libya.

He was found not guilty of three distinct accusations of corruption, improper handling of state money and unlawful political financing. After the public attorney also appealed against these not guilty verdicts, Sarkozy will be re-tried on all the charges next year, including criminal conspiracy.

Prior Legal Issues

Although the allegations of a clandestine financial agreement with the Libyan regime formed the most significant legal case Sarkozy had encountered, he had already been found guilty in two separate cases and lost France’s top honor, 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 separate case of dishonesty and influence peddling. In that case, he was given a one-year jail term but was able to serve it with an electronic tag attached to his leg. He wore the tag for a quarter year before being allowed limited freedom.