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

Court Appearance from Behind Bars

The former leader, wearing a navy blue suit, was visible on screen from jail on Monday, positioned at a desk with his legal representatives beside him. He told the court: “I want to commend all the correctional officers, who are remarkably compassionate, and who have eased this difficult situation – because it is a horrific experience.”

Background of the Legal Situation

Sarkozy was admitted to La Santé prison in Paris on 21 October, after receiving a half-decade imprisonment for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to obtain funds for his election bid from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

He has challenged the ruling, 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 served as France’s rightwing president 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 be incarcerated.

Emotional Testimony

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 never confess to something I didn’t do … I could not have foreseen 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 hard, it’s extremely challenging. It leaves a mark on any prisoner because it’s exhausting.”

He stated he would not attempt to enter into contact with any accused individuals or testifiers in the case. He declared: “I’m French, I love my country, my family is in France. This ordeal has made them suffer a lot.”

Legal Team Observations

His legal representative Jean-Michel Darrois, positioned beside him in the remote connection facility, stated: “Being in solitary confinement has been very hard for him.” He said of Sarkozy: “He’s a resilient, durable and courageous man and this imprisonment has caused him great suffering.”

In court, another of Sarkozy’s lawyers, Christophe Ingrain, who had seen him daily, said Sarkozy would be more secure outside jail than within. “He has faced death threats, has heard screaming at night and the urgent intervention in a adjacent room when a prisoner self-harmed,” he said.

Present Situation

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

Incarceration Details

The former president has been held in solitary confinement for his own safety, in an private room of about 97 square feet, with his own washing facility and restroom. Two bodyguards are stationed nearby 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

Sarkozy’s social media account last week shared a recording of numerous correspondences, postcards and packages it said had been sent to him, including a collection, a sweet treat and a volume. “No correspondence will go unanswered,” his account declared. “The final chapter has not yet been written.”

Items in Prison

The former leader took into prison a biography of Jesus as well as The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas’s novel in which an wrongly accused individual is sentenced to jail but escapes to take revenge.

Legal Proceedings Particulars

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

Sarkozy maintained his innocence and stated he had not been involved in a illegal scheme 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 not guilty verdicts, Sarkozy will be re-tried on all the accusations next year, including illegal collaboration.

Prior Legal Issues

Although the claims of a clandestine financial agreement with the North African government formed the biggest corruption trial Sarkozy had encountered, he had already been convicted in two different proceedings and stripped of 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 found guilty in a different matter of dishonesty and improper sway. In that situation, he was given a one-year jail term but was able to serve it with an ankle monitor worn around the ankle. He had the device for a quarter year before being allowed limited freedom.