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The former French president has declared that his period of incarceration has been “draining” and a “nightmare” as he was present via video link at a court hearing regarding his application to serve his sentence at home.

Court Appearance from Prison

Sarkozy, wearing a navy blue suit, appeared on camera from prison on Monday, seated at a table with his lawyers beside him. He told the court: “I want to commend all the correctional officers, who are remarkably compassionate, and who have made this nightmare bearable – because it is a horrific experience.”

Background of the Legal Situation

Sarkozy entered La Santé prison in Paris on 21 October, after receiving a half-decade imprisonment for illegal collaboration over a plan to secure financing for his 2007 presidential election campaign from the government of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has appealed against the ruling, but judges 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 served as 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 be incarcerated.

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 never confess to something I am innocent of … 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 confess 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 defendants or witnesses in the case. He declared: “I’m French, I am patriotic, my family is in France. This ordeal has made them suffer a lot.”

Legal Team Observations

His legal representative Jean-Michel Darrois, sitting next to him in the remote connection facility, said: “Being in solitary confinement has been very hard for him.” He said of Sarkozy: “He’s a resilient, robust and brave man and this imprisonment has been very painful for him.”

In court, a different legal representative, Christophe Ingrain, who had visited him every day, asserted 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 self-harmed,” he stated.

Current Status

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

The former president has been held in solitary confinement 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 ensure his safety.

Reports suggested that he had been consuming solely yogurt in prison as he was concerned any meal might have been tampered with. He had been offered the facilities to cook for himself but declined the offer.

Encouragement from Outside

Sarkozy’s social media account last week posted 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 letter will go unanswered,” his account declared. “The final chapter has not yet been determined.”

Personal Belongings

The former leader brought with him a life story of Christ as well as the classic novel, Alexandre Dumas’s novel in which an wrongly accused individual is sentenced to jail but breaks out to seek retribution.

Legal Proceedings Details

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

Sarkozy maintained his innocence and stated 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, misuse of Libyan public funds and illegal election campaign funding. After the state prosecutor also challenged these not guilty verdicts, Sarkozy will be judged again on all the charges next year, including criminal conspiracy.

Prior Legal Issues

Although the allegations of a secret campaign funding pact with the North African government formed the biggest corruption trial Sarkozy had faced, he had already been convicted in two separate cases and stripped of France’s top honor, the national recognition.

The former president had previously become the first former French head of state forced to wear an electronic tag 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 complete it with an ankle monitor worn around the ankle. He wore the tag for a quarter year before being granted conditional release.