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The former French president has asserted that his stay in prison has been “exhausting” and a “horrific experience” as he appeared via remote connection at a court hearing regarding his application to complete his jail term at home.

Court Appearance from Behind Bars

Sarkozy, dressed in a navy blue suit, appeared on camera from jail on Monday, seated at a table with his legal representatives beside him. He informed the judges: “I want to pay tribute to all the correctional officers, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this nightmare bearable – because it is a horrific experience.”

Background of the Case

Sarkozy was admitted to the correctional facility in Paris on 21 October, after receiving a half-decade imprisonment for illegal collaboration over a scheme to secure financing for his election bid from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has challenged the ruling, but the court ruled that because of the “exceptional gravity” of his guilty verdict, he had to go to prison while the legal challenge proceeded.

Unprecedented Importance

The former leader, who served as France’s conservative leader between 2007 and 2012, is the initial ex-leader of an EU country to serve time in prison, and the initial leader since WWII 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 not admit to something I am innocent of … I could not have foreseen that at 70 years of age, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal that has been forced upon me. I admit it’s hard, it’s very hard. 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 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, sitting next to him in the prison video link room, stated: “Being in isolation has been very hard for him.” He commented on Sarkozy: “He’s a resilient, durable and brave man and this imprisonment has caused him great suffering.”

In court, another of Sarkozy’s lawyers, Christophe Ingrain, who had seen him daily, asserted Sarkozy would be safer outside jail than inside. “He has received threats against his life, has heard screaming at night and the urgent intervention in a neighbouring cell when a prisoner injured themselves,” he said.

Current Status

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

Prison Conditions

Sarkozy has been placed in isolation for his own security, in an private room of about 9 sq metres, with his own shower and restroom. Security personnel are stationed nearby to protect him.

Accounts indicated that he had been eating only yoghurt 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 the Public

His online presence last week shared a recording of numerous correspondences, postcards and packages it said had been sent to him, including a collage, a chocolate bar and a book. “No correspondence will go unanswered,” his account announced. “The final chapter has not yet been determined.”

Items in Prison

The former leader brought with him a biography of Jesus as well as The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas’s novel in which an wrongly accused individual is imprisoned but escapes to seek retribution.

Legal Proceedings Particulars

During Sarkozy’s three-month trial, 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 three decades.

The accused denied wrongdoing and said he had not been involved in a illegal scheme to obtain campaign finances from Libya.

He was acquitted of three separate charges of dishonesty, improper handling of state money 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.

Previous Convictions

Although the allegations of a clandestine financial agreement with the Libyan regime formed the biggest corruption trial Sarkozy had faced, he had already been convicted in two different proceedings and stripped of France’s top honor, the national recognition.

The former president had previously become the first former French head of state forced to wear an monitoring device after being convicted in a different matter of corruption and improper sway. In that case, he was given a 12-month sentence but was able to serve it with an electronic tag attached to his leg. He had the device for three months before being allowed limited freedom.