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The former French president has asserted that his period of incarceration has been “exhausting” and an “ordeal” as he appeared via video link at a judicial proceeding regarding his application to serve his sentence at home.

Court Appearance from Prison

The former leader, dressed in a navy blue suit, was visible on screen from jail on Monday, positioned at a desk with his legal representatives beside him. He told the court: “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.”

Background of the Case

The former president entered La Santé prison in Paris on 21 October, after being handed a five-year jail sentence for illegal collaboration over a plan to obtain funds for his election bid from the government of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has challenged the ruling, but judges ruled that because of the “exceptional gravity” of his guilty verdict, he had to go to prison while the legal challenge proceeded.

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 go behind bars.

Personal Statement

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 didn’t do … I could not have foreseen that at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal that has been imposed on me. I admit it’s difficult, 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 situation has made them suffer a lot.”

Defense Lawyers Comments

His legal representative Jean-Michel Darrois, positioned beside 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, durable and brave man and this detention has caused him great suffering.”

In court, another of Sarkozy’s lawyers, Christophe Ingrain, who had visited him every day, asserted Sarkozy would be more secure outside jail than within. “He has faced death threats, has listened to shouts at night and the emergency response in a adjacent room when a prisoner injured themselves,” he said.

Present Situation

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

Prison Conditions

The former president has been held in solitary confinement for his own safety, in an private room of about 97 square feet, with his own washing facility and restroom. Two bodyguards are stationed nearby to ensure his safety.

Reports indicated that he had been eating only yoghurt in prison as he feared any food might have been tampered with. He had been given the opportunity to cook for himself but declined the offer.

Encouragement from Outside

His online presence last week posted a recording of numerous correspondences, postcards and parcels it claimed had been delivered to his attention, including a collection, a chocolate bar and a book. “No letter 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 wrongly accused individual is imprisoned but breaks out to take revenge.

Court Case Particulars

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

The accused denied wrongdoing and said he had not been involved in a criminal conspiracy to obtain campaign finances from Libya.

He was found not guilty of three separate charges 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.

Previous Convictions

Although the claims of a secret campaign funding pact with the Libyan regime formed the most significant legal case Sarkozy had encountered, he had already been convicted in two different proceedings 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 found guilty in a different matter of corruption and improper sway. In that case, he was given a one-year jail term but was able to serve it with an ankle monitor attached to his leg. He had the device for a quarter year before being granted conditional release.