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Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy has declared that his time behind bars has been “draining” and an “ordeal” as he appeared via video link at a judicial proceeding regarding his petition to serve his sentence at home.

Legal Proceeding from Prison

The former leader, wearing a dark blue attire, appeared on camera from prison on Monday, seated at a table with his lawyers beside him. He told the court: “I want to commend all the prison staff, who are remarkably compassionate, and who have eased this difficult situation – because it is a horrific experience.”

Background of the Case

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 challenged the ruling, but judges ruled that because of the “serious nature” of his guilty verdict, he had to be incarcerated while the legal challenge 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 go behind bars.

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 could not have foreseen 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 difficult, it’s extremely challenging. It has an impact on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

He said he would not try to communicate with any accused individuals 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.”

Defense Lawyers Observations

His legal representative Jean-Michel Darrois, sitting next to him in the remote connection facility, said: “Being in isolation has been extremely difficult for him.” He commented on Sarkozy: “He’s a strong, robust and courageous man and this imprisonment has been very painful for him.”

In court, another of Sarkozy’s lawyers, Christophe Ingrain, who had seen him daily, asserted Sarkozy would be more secure out of prison than within. “He has received threats against his life, has listened to shouts at night and the urgent intervention in a neighbouring cell when a prisoner injured themselves,” he stated.

Present Situation

The state prosecutor Damien Brunet requested 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 9 sq metres, with his own shower and toilet. Security personnel are stationed nearby to ensure his safety.

Accounts indicated that he had been consuming solely yogurt in prison as he was concerned any food might have been tampered with. He had been given the opportunity to cook for himself but refused this.

Encouragement from the Public

His online presence last week posted a recording of numerous correspondences, postcards and packages it said had been sent to him, including a collage, a chocolate bar and a volume. “No correspondence will go without a response,” his account announced. “The end of the story has not yet been determined.”

Items in Prison

Sarkozy took into prison a biography of Jesus as well as the classic novel, Alexandre Dumas’s novel in which an innocent man is imprisoned but breaks out 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 part of a criminal conspiracy to seek election funding from Libya.

He was acquitted of three separate charges of dishonesty, improper handling of state money and unlawful political financing. After the state prosecutor also challenged these acquittals, Sarkozy will be judged again on all the charges next year, including criminal conspiracy.

Prior Legal Issues

Although the allegations of a secret campaign funding pact with the North African government formed the biggest corruption trial Sarkozy had faced, he had already been found guilty in two different proceedings and stripped of France’s highest distinction, the Légion d’honneur.

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