The former French president has declared that his time behind bars has been “gruelling” and a “nightmare” as he was present via video link at a court hearing regarding his application to complete his jail term at home.
The former leader, dressed in a navy blue suit, was visible on screen from jail on Monday, seated at a table with his legal representatives beside him. He told the court: “I want to pay tribute to all the prison staff, who are remarkably compassionate, and who have made this nightmare bearable – because it is a horrific experience.”
Sarkozy was admitted to La Santé prison in Paris on 21 October, after receiving a half-decade imprisonment for criminal conspiracy over a plan to obtain funds for his 2007 presidential election campaign from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
He has appealed against the verdict, but the court ruled that because of the “serious nature” of his conviction, he had to be incarcerated while the legal challenge took its course.
The former leader, 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.
The former president stated to the judges from prison: “I was completely unaware or intention to ask Mr Gaddafi for any kind of financing … I will not admit to something I didn’t do … 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 admit it’s difficult, it’s extremely challenging. It leaves a mark on any prisoner because it’s exhausting.”
He said he would not try to communicate with any defendants or testifiers in the case. He declared: “I’m French, I am patriotic, my family is in France. This ordeal has caused them pain a lot.”
Sarkozy’s lawyer Jean-Michel Darrois, positioned beside him in the remote connection facility, stated: “Being in isolation has been very hard for him.” He said of Sarkozy: “He’s a resilient, durable and brave 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, asserted Sarkozy would be safer outside jail than inside. “He has faced death threats, has heard screaming at night and the urgent intervention in a adjacent room when a prisoner self-harmed,” he stated.
The public attorney Damien Brunet requested that Sarkozy’s request for release be granted. The court will announce its decision on Monday afternoon.
Sarkozy has been held in solitary confinement for his own safety, in an private room of about 9 sq metres, with his own washing facility and toilet. Security personnel are stationed nearby to protect him.
Accounts suggested that he had been eating only yoghurt in prison as he feared any meal might have been contaminated. He had been offered the facilities to cook for himself but refused this.
Sarkozy’s social media account last week posted a recording of numerous correspondences, cards and packages it claimed had been delivered to his attention, including a collage, a sweet treat and a volume. “No letter will go unanswered,” his account declared. “The end of the story has not yet been written.”
The former leader took into prison a life story of Christ as well as the classic novel, the famous work in which an innocent man is imprisoned but breaks out to seek retribution.
During Sarkozy’s three-month trial, the state attorney had informed the judges that Sarkozy entered into a “corrupt agreement” of corruption with one of the most unspeakable dictators of the last 30 years.
Sarkozy denied wrongdoing and stated he had not been part of a criminal conspiracy to seek election funding from Libya.
He was acquitted of three distinct accusations of dishonesty, improper handling of state money and illegal election campaign funding. After the public attorney also appealed against these acquittals, Sarkozy will be re-tried on all the accusations next year, including illegal collaboration.
Although the allegations of a secret campaign funding pact with the North African government formed the biggest corruption trial Sarkozy had faced, he had already been convicted in two separate cases and lost France’s highest distinction, the national recognition.
The former president had previously become the first former French head of state forced to wear an electronic tag after being found guilty in a separate case of corruption and influence peddling. In that situation, he was given a 12-month sentence but was able to complete it with an ankle monitor attached to his leg. He wore the tag for a quarter year before being allowed limited freedom.
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