🔗 Share this article

The ex-president of France is preparing a personal account this autumn named Diary of a Prisoner, detailing his experience served in custody.

The revelation emerged less than two weeks following Sarkozy gained freedom while he appeals the guilty verdict on charges of unlawful coordination connected to efforts to obtain political financing linked to the regime of former Libyan leader.

Prison Experience: Inner Thoughts

“Behind bars one sees little, with little to occupy time,” he reflects in a preview, indicating the memoir will focus on his thoughts from solitary confinement rather than wider commentary of the strained and crisis-hit French prison system.

“Silence escapes me, which is missing in that facility, where one hears a lot to hear,” he states. “The din persists relentlessly. However, akin to empty spaces, one’s inner world is strengthened behind bars.”

Court Appearance: Sharing the Struggle

While appealing for release, he had appeared by video link from his cell, depicting prison life as draining. He expressed in court: “I wish to commend the correctional officers, displaying remarkable compassion, easing this ordeal manageable – since it’s deeply troubling.”

“I didn’t expect that at 70 years of age, I would end up incarcerated. It’s a hardship forced upon me. I confess it’s hard, extremely tough. It affects one all who experience it because it’s gruelling.”

Unprecedented Situation

The former president, who served as France’s president for a five-year term, was the first ex-leader of an EU country and the initial post-WWII figure of France to experience jail.

Ahead of his incarceration he had said he planned to utilize the opportunity to write a book.

Reading Material

It remains unclear did he manage to review and analyze the texts he brought with him: a two-volume biography of Jesus plus the novel by Dumas The Count of Monte Cristo, where a wrongfully accused individual is sentenced to jail but escapes to take revenge.

Prison Conditions

The former leader was held secluded due to safety concerns in a room roughly 100 square feet including private facilities in the Paris jail in the city. Two bodyguards stayed in a neighbouring cell.

Reports indicated that he had eaten just yogurt during his stay worried that meals provided might have been spat on. Although he had access to cook for himself but refused this, as per accounts. Unclear remains if the memoir includes meals during incarceration.

Defense Viewpoint

Sarkozy’s lawyer, who visited his client daily throughout the jail term, informed the court he would be safer outside jail rather than in custody. “He has faced menacing messages, has heard screaming during nighttime plus rapid actions next door when a prisoner self-harmed.”

Legal Proceedings

Sarkozy went to prison in late October following a Paris court sentenced him to a five-year sentence for criminal conspiracy related to a plan to secure election financing during his election campaign.

He denies wrongdoing and has appealed against the verdict, with a new trial planned for the coming spring.