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The former French president has asserted that his time behind bars has been “gruelling” and an “ordeal” as he was present via remote connection at a court hearing regarding his application to serve his sentence at home.

Court Appearance from Prison

Sarkozy, dressed in a dark blue attire, appeared on camera from prison on Monday, positioned at a desk with his lawyers beside him. He informed the judges: “I want to commend all the correctional officers, 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 five-year jail sentence 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 judges ruled that because of the “serious nature” of his conviction, he had to be incarcerated while the legal challenge took its course.

Unprecedented Importance

Sarkozy, who served as France’s rightwing president between 2007 and 2012, is the first former head of an EU country to serve time in prison, and the first French postwar leader to be incarcerated.

Emotional Testimony

Sarkozy told the court 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 ordeal that has been forced upon me. I confess it’s hard, it’s extremely challenging. It has an impact on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

He said he would not attempt to enter into contact with any defendants or witnesses in the case. He said: “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 remote connection facility, said: “Being in isolation has been very hard for him.” He said of Sarkozy: “He’s a strong, robust and courageous man and this detention has caused him great suffering.”

In court, another of Sarkozy’s lawyers, Christophe Ingrain, who had seen him daily, asserted Sarkozy would be safer outside jail than inside. “He has faced death threats, has listened to shouts at night and the emergency response in a neighbouring cell when a prisoner self-harmed,” he said.

Current Status

The state prosecutor Damien Brunet asked that Sarkozy’s request for release be granted. The court will announce its decision on Monday afternoon.

Prison Conditions

Sarkozy has been placed in isolation for his own security, in an individual cell of about 9 sq metres, with his own washing facility and toilet. Security personnel are occupying a neighbouring cell to ensure his safety.

Accounts suggested that he had been consuming solely yogurt in prison as he feared any food might have been contaminated. He had been offered the facilities to prepare his own meals but declined the offer.

Encouragement from Outside

His online presence last week shared a video of numerous correspondences, cards and parcels it claimed had been sent to him, including a collection, a sweet treat 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 brought with him a life story of Christ as well as The Count of Monte Cristo, the famous work in which an wrongly accused individual is imprisoned but breaks out to seek retribution.

Legal Proceedings Details

During Sarkozy’s three-month trial, the state attorney had informed the judges that Sarkozy engaged in a “corrupt agreement” of dishonesty with one of the worst rulers of the last 30 years.

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

He was found not guilty of three separate charges of dishonesty, improper handling of state money and illegal election campaign funding. After the public attorney also challenged these acquittals, Sarkozy will be judged again on all the charges next year, including criminal conspiracy.

Prior Legal Issues

Although the allegations of a clandestine financial agreement with the North African government formed the most significant legal case Sarkozy had encountered, he had already been convicted in two separate cases and stripped of France’s highest distinction, the Légion d’honneur.

Sarkozy had previously become the first former French head of state forced to wear an electronic tag after being convicted in a different matter of dishonesty and improper sway. In that situation, he was given a one-year jail term but was able to serve it with an electronic tag attached to his leg. He had the device for three months before being granted conditional release.