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The former French president has asserted that his time behind bars has been “exhausting” and a “nightmare” as he appeared via video link at a court hearing regarding his application to serve his sentence at home.

Court Appearance from Behind Bars

The former leader, wearing a dark blue attire, appeared on camera from jail on Monday, seated at a table with his lawyers beside him. He informed the judges: “I want to acknowledge all the correctional officers, who are remarkably compassionate, and who have made this nightmare bearable – because it is a nightmare.”

Background of the Case

Sarkozy was admitted to 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 2007 presidential election campaign from the government of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has challenged the verdict, but judges ruled that because of the “serious nature” of his guilty verdict, he had to be incarcerated while the legal challenge proceeded.

Unprecedented Significance

Sarkozy, who served as 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 go behind bars.

Personal Statement

Sarkozy stated to the judges from prison: “I was completely unaware 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 this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s an challenge that has been forced upon me. I confess it’s difficult, 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 said: “I’m French, I love my country, my family is in France. This ordeal has caused them pain a lot.”

Defense Lawyers Comments

His legal representative Jean-Michel Darrois, positioned beside him in the prison video link room, stated: “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, another of Sarkozy’s lawyers, Christophe Ingrain, who had visited him every day, said Sarkozy would be more secure out of prison than inside. “He has faced death threats, has listened to shouts at night and the urgent intervention in a adjacent room when a prisoner injured themselves,” he stated.

Present Situation

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

Incarceration Details

The former president has been placed in isolation for his own security, in an individual cell of about 97 square feet, with his own washing facility and toilet. Security personnel are occupying a neighbouring cell to ensure his safety.

Accounts indicated that he had been eating only yoghurt in prison as he was concerned any meal might have been tampered with. He had been offered the facilities to prepare his own meals but refused this.

Support from the Public

His online presence last week shared a video of numerous correspondences, cards and packages it claimed had been sent to him, including a collection, a sweet treat and a volume. “No correspondence will go without a response,” his account declared. “The final chapter has not yet been determined.”

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 innocent man is sentenced to jail but escapes to take revenge.

Court Case Details

During Sarkozy’s three-month trial, the state attorney had informed the judges that Sarkozy engaged in a “Faustian pact of dishonesty with one of the most unspeakable dictators of the last 30 years.

Sarkozy maintained his innocence and stated he had not been part of a criminal conspiracy to seek election funding from Libya.

He was found not guilty of three distinct accusations of corruption, misuse of Libyan public funds and unlawful political financing. After the state prosecutor also challenged these acquittals, Sarkozy will be re-tried on all the charges next year, including criminal conspiracy.

Previous Convictions

Although the claims of a clandestine financial agreement with the Libyan regime formed the biggest corruption trial Sarkozy had encountered, he had already been convicted in two separate cases and stripped of France’s highest distinction, 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 different matter of dishonesty and improper sway. In that situation, he was given a one-year jail term but was able to complete it with an electronic tag worn around the ankle. He wore the tag for a quarter year before being allowed limited freedom.