Nicolas Sarkozy to Pen Jail Diary Documenting Two Dozen Days Incarcerated
The ex-president of France plans a personal account in the coming weeks named A Prisoner’s Diary, which recounts the period spent in custody.
This news emerged just 11 days after the ex-leader was released while his appeal proceeds his conviction for illegal collaboration regarding a scheme to acquire election campaign funds from the government of former Libyan leader.
Time in Custody: Inner Thoughts
“Behind bars one sees little, with little to occupy time,” he writes in one passage, implying the memoir is more about his thoughts during isolation rather than extensive analysis of the packed and crisis-hit jail system in France.
“Quiet is absent, which is missing at the prison, where noise is constant sound,” he adds. “The racket persists relentlessly. However, akin to empty spaces, inner life is strengthened behind bars.”
Release Hearing: Recounting the Hardship
At his release request hearing, the former leader participated remotely from inside the facility, characterizing his incarceration as draining. He had told the court: “I wish to commend those working in the jail, displaying remarkable compassion, easing this difficult experience manageable – because it is a nightmare.”
“It never crossed my mind that in my seventies, I would end up incarcerated. It’s a hardship that has been imposed on me. I admit it’s difficult, extremely tough. It leaves a mark all who experience it as it’s exhausting.”
Unprecedented Situation
The former president, the ex-head of state for a five-year term, was the first past president in the European Union and the first leader since WWII from France to experience jail.
Before entering jail he declared he planned to utilize the opportunity to write a book.
Books in Prison
It remains unclear if he found the opportunity to read and critique the volumes he brought with him: a two-volume biography of Jesus together with Dumas’s work the famous story, a plot where a wrongfully accused individual is sentenced to jail then breaks out to take revenge.
Daily Reality
The former leader was held in isolation to protect him in a room of about nine sq metres with his own shower and toilet at La Santé prison in Paris. Two bodyguards were stationed in an adjacent room.
It was stated his diet consisted only yoghurts while inside because he feared any food might have been spat on. Although he had access to cook for himself but he turned this down, according to reports. Not known is if the memoir includes his dietary choices.
Lawyer’s Statements
His attorney, who visited his client each day throughout the jail term, told the release hearing security would be better released compared to inside. “He has faced menacing messages, heard shouts during nighttime and emergency responses in a neighbouring cell as a detainee harmed themselves.”
Legal Proceedings
Sarkozy went to prison in late October following a French court sentenced him to a half-decade term for criminal conspiracy in connection with efforts to acquire political donations during his election campaign.
He maintains his innocence and has appealed against the verdict, and a fresh trial is scheduled for next spring.
