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The former French president has asserted that his time behind bars has been “exhausting” and a “horrific experience” as he appeared via remote connection 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, appeared on camera from prison on Monday, positioned at a desk with his lawyers beside him. He informed the judges: “I want to acknowledge all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this nightmare bearable – because it is a horrific experience.”

Background of the Legal Situation

The former president entered 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 election bid from the government of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has challenged the verdict, but the court ruled that because of the “serious nature” of his conviction, he had to go to prison while the appeals process took its course.

Historical Significance

Sarkozy, who served as France’s conservative leader between 2007 and 2012, is the initial ex-leader of an EU country to be imprisoned in prison, and the first French postwar leader to go behind bars.

Emotional Testimony

Sarkozy told the court from prison: “I never had any idea or intention to ask Mr Gaddafi for any kind of financing … I will not admit to something I am innocent of … I could not have foreseen 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 exhausting.”

He stated he would not attempt to enter into contact with any accused individuals or testifiers 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 prison video link room, said: “Being in solitary confinement has been extremely difficult for him.” He commented on Sarkozy: “He’s a strong, robust and brave man and this detention has caused him great suffering.”

In court, a different legal representative, Christophe Ingrain, who had visited him every day, said Sarkozy would be safer outside jail than within. “He has faced death threats, has heard screaming at night and the emergency response in a adjacent room when a prisoner injured themselves,” he stated.

Current Status

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

Incarceration Details

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. Two bodyguards are occupying a neighbouring cell to protect him.

Accounts suggested that he had been eating only yoghurt in prison as he feared any food might have been contaminated. He had been given the opportunity to prepare his own meals but declined the offer.

Support from the Public

Sarkozy’s social media account last week shared a recording of numerous correspondences, postcards and parcels it claimed had been sent to him, including a collage, a chocolate bar and a book. “No correspondence will go without a response,” his account announced. “The final chapter has not yet been written.”

Items in Prison

Sarkozy brought with him a biography of Jesus as well as the classic novel, the famous work in which an innocent man is imprisoned but escapes to seek retribution.

Court Case Details

During the lengthy court case, the public prosecutor had told the court that Sarkozy entered into a “Faustian pact of corruption with one of the most unspeakable dictators of the last 30 years.

The accused maintained his innocence and stated he had not been part of a illegal scheme to obtain campaign finances from Libya.

He was acquitted of three distinct accusations of corruption, misuse of Libyan public funds and illegal election campaign funding. After the public attorney also challenged these acquittals, Sarkozy will be re-tried on all the accusations next year, including illegal collaboration.

Prior Legal Issues

Although the claims of a secret campaign funding pact with the North African government formed the biggest corruption trial Sarkozy had encountered, he had already been found guilty in two separate cases and stripped of France’s highest distinction, 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 corruption 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 had the device for a quarter year before being granted conditional release.