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Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy has declared that his period of incarceration has been “gruelling” and a “nightmare” as he appeared via video link at a court hearing regarding his petition to serve his sentence at home.

Legal Proceeding from Prison

Sarkozy, dressed in a dark blue attire, was visible on screen from prison on Monday, positioned at a desk with his lawyers 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 nightmare.”

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 obtain funds for his election bid 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 guilty verdict, he had to go to prison while the appeals process proceeded.

Unprecedented Significance

Sarkozy, 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.

Emotional Testimony

The former president told the court from prison: “I never had any idea or intention to ask Mr Gaddafi for any kind of financing … I will never confess to something I am innocent of … I never imagined that at 70 years of age, 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 leaves a mark 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 love my country, 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 extremely difficult for him.” He said of Sarkozy: “He’s a resilient, robust and brave man and this detention has caused him great suffering.”

In court, a different legal representative, Christophe Ingrain, who had seen him daily, said Sarkozy would be safer out of prison than inside. “He has received threats against his life, has listened to shouts at night and the urgent intervention in a neighbouring cell when a prisoner self-harmed,” he stated.

Current Status

The state prosecutor Damien Brunet asked that Sarkozy’s request for release 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 individual cell of about 9 sq metres, with his own washing facility and restroom. Security personnel are stationed nearby to ensure his safety.

Accounts 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.

Support from Outside

His online presence last week shared a recording of numerous correspondences, postcards and parcels it claimed had been delivered to his attention, including a collection, a chocolate bar and a volume. “No letter will go unanswered,” his account declared. “The final chapter has not yet been written.”

Personal Belongings

Sarkozy brought with him a biography of Jesus as well as the classic novel, the famous work in which an innocent man is sentenced to jail but breaks out to take revenge.

Court Case Particulars

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

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

He was acquitted of three separate charges of dishonesty, improper handling of state money 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 clandestine financial agreement with the Libyan regime formed the most significant legal case Sarkozy had faced, he had already been convicted in two different proceedings and stripped of France’s top honor, the Légion d’honneur.

The former president 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 serve it with an electronic tag worn around the ankle. He wore the tag for three months before being granted conditional release.