Nicolas Sarkozy to Pen Jail Diary Documenting Three Weeks Incarcerated
Nicolas Sarkozy will soon publish a book this autumn named Diary of a Prisoner, detailing the period spent in jail.
The announcement was made just 11 days after the ex-leader left prison as he contests his conviction for illegal collaboration regarding a scheme to secure election campaign funds provided by the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi.
Life Behind Bars: Inner Thoughts
“In prison there is nothing to see, with little to occupy time,” he writes in an extract, indicating the account centers around his musings during seclusion as opposed to extensive analysis on the strained and crisis-hit French prison system.
“Silence escapes me, which doesn’t exist at the prison, where one hears constant sound,” he continues. “The noise is alas constant. But, just like the desert, inner life is fortified while incarcerated.”
Freedom Plea: Sharing the Struggle
While appealing for release, he participated remotely from inside the facility, characterizing his incarceration as exhausting. He had told the court: “I want to pay tribute the correctional officers, who are exceptionally humane, and who helped make this nightmare tolerable – 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. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, extremely tough. It leaves a mark all who experience it as it’s exhausting.”
Unprecedented Situation
Sarkozy, who led the nation for a five-year term, was the first past president of an EU country and the first postwar leader of France to serve time in prison.
Ahead of his incarceration he had said he planned to utilize the opportunity for authoring a memoir.
Cell Library
It is not certain if he found the opportunity to review and analyze the three books he took into prison: a biography of Jesus in two parts plus the novel by Dumas the classic tale, in which an innocent man is sentenced to jail then breaks out to exact retribution.
Daily Reality
He was held in isolation due to safety concerns in a room approximately nine square meters including private facilities at the correctional facility located in the capital. Two bodyguards stayed in a neighbouring cell.
It was stated that he had eaten only yoghurts while inside because he feared meals provided might have been spat on. Although he had access to cook for himself but refused this, based on unnamed sources. It is uncertain if he will detail what he ate in prison.
Legal Perspective
Sarkozy’s lawyer, who saw him regularly every day throughout the jail term, stated during proceedings security would be better out of prison than inside. “He has faced menacing messages, heard shouts after dark and the urgent intervention in a neighbouring cell when a prisoner self-harmed.”
Charges and Sentence
His incarceration began on 21 October following a French court gave him five years in prison for criminal conspiracy related to a plan to secure election financing for his presidential bid.
He denies wrongdoing challenging the decision, and a fresh trial set for early next year.
