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Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy has declared that his stay in prison has been “draining” and a “horrific experience” as he was present via video link at a court hearing 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 prison on Monday, positioned at a desk with his lawyers beside him. He told the court: “I want to commend all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this nightmare bearable – because it is a nightmare.”

Context of the Case

Sarkozy entered La Santé prison in Paris on 21 October, after being handed a five-year jail sentence for criminal conspiracy over a plan to obtain funds for his election bid from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has appealed against the verdict, but judges ruled that because of the “serious nature” of his guilty verdict, he had to go to prison while the appeals process took its course.

Unprecedented Significance

The former leader, who was France’s rightwing president between 2007 and 2012, is the first former head of an EU country to serve time in prison, and the initial leader since WWII to be incarcerated.

Emotional Testimony

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 am innocent of … I never imagined that at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal that has been imposed on me. I confess it’s hard, it’s extremely challenging. It leaves a mark on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

He stated he would not attempt to enter into contact with any defendants or testifiers in the case. He declared: “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, stated: “Being in isolation has been extremely difficult for him.” He said of 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, asserted Sarkozy would be safer out of prison than inside. “He has faced death threats, has heard screaming at night and the emergency response in a neighbouring cell when a prisoner self-harmed,” he stated.

Present Situation

The public attorney Damien Brunet asked that Sarkozy’s petition for freedom be granted. The court will reveal its ruling on Monday afternoon.

Prison Conditions

The former president has been placed in isolation for his own security, in an individual cell of about 9 sq metres, with his own washing facility and restroom. 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 contaminated. He had been offered the facilities to prepare his own meals but refused this.

Encouragement from the Public

His online presence last week posted a recording of piles of letters, postcards and packages it said had been sent to him, including a collection, a sweet treat and a volume. “No letter will go without a response,” his account declared. “The end of the story has not yet been written.”

Personal Belongings

The former leader brought with him a life story of Christ as well as the classic novel, Alexandre Dumas’s novel in which an wrongly accused individual is imprisoned but escapes to seek retribution.

Court Case Details

During Sarkozy’s three-month trial, the state attorney had told the court that Sarkozy engaged in a “Faustian pact of dishonesty with one of the worst rulers of the last 30 years.

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

He was found not guilty of three distinct accusations of dishonesty, misuse of Libyan public funds and unlawful political financing. After the public attorney also challenged these acquittals, Sarkozy will be re-tried on all the accusations next year, including illegal collaboration.

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 separate cases and lost France’s top honor, the national recognition.

Sarkozy had previously become the initial ex-leader forced to wear an monitoring device after being convicted in a different matter of corruption and influence peddling. In that situation, he was given a 12-month sentence but was able to complete it with an electronic tag attached to his leg. He had the device for a quarter year before being granted conditional release.