🔗 Share this article

Nicolas Sarkozy is preparing a book next month named Diary of a Prisoner, chronicling the period served in custody.

The announcement was made just 11 days after Sarkozy gained freedom while his appeal proceeds his conviction on charges of unlawful coordination regarding a scheme to obtain election campaign funds linked to the government of the late Libyan dictator.

Life Behind Bars: Inner Thoughts

“Inside jail visibility is limited, and activities are scarce,” he reflects in an extract, suggesting the account centers around his musings while in solitary confinement as opposed to a broader observation regarding the packed and troubled French prison system.

“Quiet is absent, which is missing at the prison, where there is endless commotion,” he continues. “The racket persists relentlessly. But, just like the desert, inner life is strengthened while incarcerated.”

Release Hearing: Recounting the Hardship

While appealing for release, he had appeared by video link from his cell, describing his time inside as gruelling. He stated to the judge: “I wish to commend to all the prison staff, displaying remarkable compassion, and who have made this difficult experience tolerable – since it’s deeply troubling.”

“I never imagined that at 70 years of age, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s an ordeal that has been imposed on me. I admit it’s difficult, extremely tough. It has an impact on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

First of Its Kind

He, who served as France’s president for a five-year term, became the inaugural former head of an EU country and the first postwar leader of France to be incarcerated.

Prior to imprisonment he mentioned he would use his time to write a book.

Cell Library

It is not certain did he manage to review and analyze the texts he took into prison: a life story of Jesus spanning two books and Alexandre Dumas’s novel the classic tale, a plot where an innocent man is imprisoned but escapes to take revenge.

Life in Confinement

The former leader was placed in isolation to protect him in a room approximately nine square meters with his own shower and toilet in the Paris jail located in the capital. Two bodyguards were stationed in the next cell.

Sources mentioned that he had eaten only yoghurts during his stay worried that meals provided could have been tampered with. Options were available to prepare his own meals but he turned this down, as per accounts. Not known is if the memoir includes what he ate in prison.

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 rather than in custody. “There were death threats, listened to yells during nighttime and the urgent intervention next door during an inmate’s self-injury.”

Legal Proceedings

He entered custody on 21 October following a French court sentenced him to a half-decade term on conspiracy charges over a scheme to obtain election financing for his 2007 presidential race.

He maintains his innocence and is contesting the ruling, with a new trial planned for the coming spring.