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Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy has asserted that his period of incarceration has been “exhausting” and a “nightmare” as he was present via remote connection at a judicial proceeding regarding his application to serve his sentence at home.

Legal Proceeding from Behind Bars

The former leader, dressed in a navy blue suit, appeared on camera from jail on Monday, positioned at a desk with his legal representatives beside him. He informed the judges: “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.”

Background of the Legal Situation

Sarkozy was admitted to the correctional facility in Paris on 21 October, after being handed a half-decade imprisonment for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to secure financing for his 2007 presidential election campaign from the government of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has appealed against the verdict, but judges ruled that because of the “exceptional gravity” of his guilty verdict, he had to be incarcerated while the appeals process proceeded.

Historical Importance

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

Emotional Testimony

The former president stated to the judges from prison: “I never had any idea or desire to ask Mr Gaddafi for any kind of financing … I will never confess to something I didn’t do … 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 admit it’s difficult, it’s extremely challenging. It has an impact on any prisoner because it’s exhausting.”

He stated 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 situation has caused them pain a lot.”

Legal Team Comments

Sarkozy’s lawyer Jean-Michel Darrois, positioned beside him in the remote connection facility, 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 imprisonment has been very painful for him.”

In court, a different legal representative, Christophe Ingrain, who had visited him every day, said Sarkozy would be safer out of prison than within. “He has faced death threats, has listened to shouts at night and the emergency response in a neighbouring cell when a prisoner injured themselves,” he stated.

Current Status

The public attorney Damien Brunet requested that Sarkozy’s request for release be approved. The court will reveal its ruling on Monday afternoon.

Prison Conditions

Sarkozy has been placed in isolation for his own safety, in an private room of about 97 square feet, with his own washing facility and toilet. Security personnel are occupying a neighbouring cell to protect him.

Accounts indicated that he had been consuming solely yogurt in prison as he was concerned any meal might have been contaminated. He had been given the opportunity to cook for himself but declined the offer.

Support from Outside

His online presence last week posted a video of numerous correspondences, postcards and parcels it claimed had been sent to him, including a collection, a chocolate bar and a volume. “No letter will go unanswered,” his account announced. “The final chapter has not yet been determined.”

Items in Prison

Sarkozy brought with him a biography of Jesus as well as The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas’s novel in which an innocent man is sentenced to jail but breaks out to take revenge.

Court Case Details

During the lengthy court case, the state attorney had informed the judges that Sarkozy entered into a “Faustian pact of dishonesty with one of the worst rulers of the last 30 years.

Sarkozy maintained his innocence and stated he had not been part of a criminal conspiracy to obtain campaign finances from Libya.

He was found not guilty of three separate charges of corruption, improper handling of state money and unlawful political financing. After the public attorney also challenged these acquittals, Sarkozy will be re-tried on all the charges next year, including criminal conspiracy.

Prior Legal Issues

Although the claims 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 lost France’s highest distinction, the national recognition.

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 corruption and improper sway. In that situation, he was given a one-year jail term but was able to complete it with an electronic tag attached to his leg. He wore the tag for a quarter year before being allowed limited freedom.