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Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy has asserted that his time behind bars has been “draining” and an “ordeal” as he was present via video link at a court hearing regarding his request to complete his jail term at home.

Court Appearance from Behind Bars

The former leader, dressed in a dark blue attire, appeared on camera from prison on Monday, seated at a table with his legal representatives beside him. He informed the judges: “I want to acknowledge all the correctional officers, who are remarkably compassionate, and who have eased this difficult situation – because it is a horrific experience.”

Context of the Case

Sarkozy was admitted to the correctional facility in Paris on 21 October, after receiving a five-year jail sentence for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to obtain funds for his 2007 presidential election campaign 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 took its course.

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.

Emotional Testimony

Sarkozy told the court from prison: “I was completely unaware or intention to ask Mr Gaddafi for any kind of financing … I will never confess to something I didn’t do … I never imagined that at 70 years of age, I’d be in prison. It’s an challenge that has been imposed on me. I confess it’s difficult, it’s extremely challenging. It leaves a mark on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

He said he would not try to communicate with any defendants or witnesses 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.”

Legal Team Observations

His legal representative Jean-Michel Darrois, positioned beside him in the prison video link room, stated: “Being in isolation has been extremely difficult for him.” He said of Sarkozy: “He’s a strong, robust and brave man and this detention has been very painful for him.”

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

Present Situation

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

Incarceration Details

Sarkozy has been placed in isolation for his own safety, in an private room of about 97 square feet, with his own shower 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 tampered with. He had been given the opportunity to prepare his own meals but declined the offer.

Support from the Public

His online presence last week shared a video of piles of letters, cards and packages it said had been delivered to his attention, including a collection, a sweet treat and a book. “No letter will go without a response,” his account announced. “The final chapter has not yet been written.”

Personal Belongings

The former leader took into prison a biography of Jesus as well as the classic novel, the famous work in which an wrongly accused individual is imprisoned but breaks out to take revenge.

Court Case Details

During Sarkozy’s three-month trial, the state attorney had informed the judges that Sarkozy entered into a “Faustian pact of corruption with one of the worst rulers of the last three decades.

Sarkozy denied wrongdoing and stated he had not been part of a illegal scheme to obtain campaign finances from Libya.

He was found not guilty of three separate charges of corruption, misuse of Libyan public funds and unlawful political financing. 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 allegations of a clandestine financial agreement with the North African government formed the biggest corruption trial Sarkozy had encountered, he had already been found guilty in two different proceedings and stripped of France’s top honor, the national recognition.

Sarkozy had previously become the initial ex-leader forced to wear an electronic tag after being convicted in a separate case of corruption and improper sway. In that case, he was given a one-year jail term 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.