The Former French President to Pen Jail Diary Chronicling His 20 Days Behind Bars
Nicolas Sarkozy plans a memoir in the coming weeks called Diary of a Prisoner, detailing his experience endured in custody.
This news emerged less than two weeks after the ex-leader was released while he contests the guilty verdict related to criminal conspiracy connected to efforts to secure political financing provided by the government of the late Libyan dictator.
Time in Custody: Personal Reflections
“Behind bars visibility is limited, and nothing to do,” he writes in a preview, suggesting the account will focus on his reflections during seclusion rather than a broader observation of the packed and crisis-hit correctional facilities in the country.
“I forget silence, which is missing in that facility, where noise is a lot to hear,” he states. “The din unfortunately never stops. Yet, similar to barren lands, personal reflection is strengthened behind bars.”
Release Hearing: Describing the Ordeal
During his plea for freedom, Sarkozy had appeared via screen from inside the facility, characterizing his incarceration as draining. He stated to the judge: “I want to pay tribute to all the prison staff, showing great humanity, easing this ordeal bearable – because it is a nightmare.”
“It never crossed my mind that at 70 years of age, I’d be in prison. It’s a trial I must endure. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, it’s very hard. It has an impact on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”
First of Its Kind
The former president, who served as France’s president from 2007 to 2012, set a precedent as former head of an EU country and the initial post-WWII figure in the French Republic to experience jail.
Before entering jail he mentioned he would use his time for authoring a memoir.
Reading Material
It remains unclear whether he had time to read and critique the volumes he took into prison: a two-volume biography of Jesus together with Dumas’s work the famous story, a plot where an innocent man is sentenced to jail but escapes to exact retribution.
Daily Reality
The former leader was held in isolation to protect him in a cell of about nine sq metres with his own shower and toilet at the correctional facility in the city. Security personnel occupied an adjacent room.
Sources mentioned his diet consisted just yogurt while inside due to concerns prison cuisine could have been tampered with. He had facilities to prepare his own meals yet he declined, based on unnamed sources. It is uncertain if he will detail what he ate in prison.
Defense Viewpoint
Sarkozy’s lawyer, who visited his client each day throughout the jail term, informed the court security would be better released than inside. “He received menacing messages, listened to yells during nighttime and emergency responses next door as a detainee harmed themselves.”
Legal Proceedings
He entered custody in late October when a Paris court sentenced him to a half-decade term for illegal collaboration in connection with efforts to secure campaign funds during his election campaign.
He denies wrongdoing and is contesting the ruling, and a fresh trial planned for next spring.
