🔗 Share this article

Nicolas Sarkozy plans a personal account this autumn titled Diary of a Prisoner, detailing the period served behind bars.

This news emerged less than two weeks after the ex-leader was released as he contests his conviction on charges of illegal collaboration regarding a scheme to obtain presidential race money linked to the regime of the late Libyan dictator.

Life Behind Bars: Personal Reflections

“In prison one sees little, with little to occupy time,” he writes in one passage, suggesting the memoir is more about his thoughts from seclusion instead of wider commentary on the strained and struggling French prison system.

“Silence escapes me, not present in La Santé, where there is constant sound,” he states. “The din persists relentlessly. But, just like the desert, one’s inner world grows stronger while incarcerated.”

Freedom Plea: Recounting the Hardship

At his release request hearing, he was present by video link from inside the facility, characterizing his incarceration as draining. He stated to the judge: “I wish to commend the correctional officers, showing great humanity, and who helped make this ordeal bearable – as it truly is one.”

“I didn’t expect at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal forced upon me. I confess it’s hard, it’s very hard. It leaves a mark on any prisoner as it’s exhausting.”

Unprecedented Situation

Sarkozy, who led the nation from 2007 to 2012, was the first past president from the EU and the first leader since WWII in the French Republic to serve time in prison.

Ahead of his incarceration he mentioned he intended to spend the period to compose an account.

Cell Library

It remains unclear if he found the opportunity to read and critique the three books he brought with him: a biography of Jesus in two parts together with Dumas’s work The Count of Monte Cristo, in which a blameless person is sentenced to jail then breaks out to seek vengeance.

Life in Confinement

The former leader was placed secluded to protect him in a room roughly 100 square feet with his own shower and toilet at La Santé prison located in the capital. Guards occupied the next cell.

Reports indicated that he had eaten only yoghurts in prison worried that prison cuisine could have been tampered with. Options were available to prepare his own meals but refused this, based on unnamed sources. It is uncertain if he will detail meals during incarceration.

Lawyer’s Statements

His attorney, who saw him regularly every day while he was in prison, told the release hearing his safety would improve released compared to inside. “He received threats against his life, listened to yells during nighttime plus rapid actions next door when a prisoner self-harmed.”

Legal Proceedings

He entered custody in late October following a French court sentenced him to a five-year sentence on conspiracy charges over a scheme to secure political donations during his election campaign.

He denies wrongdoing challenging the decision, and a fresh trial set for the coming spring.