Nicolas Sarkozy Preparing to Release Jail Diary Documenting Three Weeks Incarcerated
The ex-president of France is preparing a memoir next month named Diary of a Prisoner, chronicling his time served in custody.
This news emerged just 11 days following Sarkozy left prison while he appeals the court ruling related to unlawful coordination connected to efforts to secure presidential race money provided by the government of Muammar Gaddafi.
Life Behind Bars: Personal Reflections
“Behind bars there is nothing to see, and nothing to do,” he notes in an extract, suggesting the book is more about his reflections from solitary confinement as opposed to a broader observation on the packed and crisis-hit jail system in France.
“I forget silence, which is missing in that facility, where one hears a lot to hear,” he states. “The din unfortunately never stops. Yet, similar to barren lands, one’s inner world is fortified in prison.”
Freedom Plea: Recounting the Hardship
At his release request hearing, he participated via screen from his cell, characterizing his incarceration as draining. He expressed in court: “I must acknowledge those working in the jail, who are exceptionally humane, and who helped make this ordeal bearable – because it is a nightmare.”
“I never imagined that at 70 years of age, I’d be in prison. It’s a trial forced upon me. I confess it’s hard, it’s very hard. It affects one on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”
Historical Context
Sarkozy, who served as France’s president between 2007 and 2012, set a precedent as ex-leader of an EU country and the first postwar leader in the French Republic to serve time in prison.
Ahead of his incarceration he had said he planned to utilize the opportunity for authoring a memoir.
Reading Material
It remains unclear did he manage to go through the three books he brought with him: a biography of Jesus in two parts plus the novel by Dumas The Count of Monte Cristo, a plot where a wrongfully accused individual ends up incarcerated but escapes to take revenge.
Life in Confinement
Sarkozy was held in isolation for his own security in a space approximately nine square meters featuring a personal bathroom at La Santé prison in Paris. Two bodyguards were stationed in a neighbouring cell.
Sources mentioned that he consumed only yoghurts during his stay worried that meals provided may have been contaminated. Options were available to prepare his own meals but refused this, as per accounts. Unclear remains if he will detail what he ate in prison.
Lawyer’s Statements
The legal representative, who visited his client each day while he was in prison, stated during proceedings his safety would improve released compared to inside. “There were death threats, listened to yells after dark and emergency responses in an adjacent room during an inmate’s self-injury.”
Case Background
His incarceration began on 21 October when a French court sentenced him to a half-decade term for illegal collaboration related to a plan to secure political donations during his election campaign.
He disputes the charges and has appealed against the verdict, and another court case is scheduled for the coming spring.
