🔗 Share this article

The ex-president of France will soon publish a memoir next month titled Notes from a Cell, detailing his experience endured in jail.

The announcement emerged less than two weeks following Sarkozy gained freedom as he appeals the court ruling for illegal collaboration regarding a scheme to acquire political financing linked to the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

Time in Custody: Inner Thoughts

“Inside jail one sees little, with little to occupy time,” he reflects in a preview, implying the book is more about his thoughts while in isolation instead of wider commentary of the packed and troubled jail system in France.

“I forget silence, which is missing in that facility, where there is constant sound,” he states. “The racket persists relentlessly. But, just like the desert, personal reflection is strengthened while incarcerated.”

Release Hearing: Describing the Ordeal

During his plea for freedom, the former leader was present by video link from a room in prison, characterizing his incarceration as gruelling. He had told the court: “I want to pay tribute to all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, and who helped make this nightmare bearable – because it is a nightmare.”

“It never crossed my mind that at 70 years of age, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal forced upon me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, deeply straining. It affects one on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

First of Its Kind

Sarkozy, who served as France’s president between 2007 and 2012, was the first ex-leader of an EU country and the first leader since WWII in the French Republic to serve time in prison.

Ahead of his incarceration he declared he intended to spend the period to write a book.

Books in Prison

Unconfirmed is did he manage to review and analyze the three books he had in his cell: a biography of Jesus in two parts together with Dumas’s work the classic tale, a plot where a wrongfully accused individual ends up incarcerated but escapes to exact retribution.

Life in Confinement

Sarkozy was held secluded for his own security in a room approximately nine square meters including private facilities at the correctional facility in Paris. Security personnel stayed in an adjacent room.

Sources mentioned that he consumed only yoghurts during his stay due to concerns meals provided could have been tampered with. Although he had access for self-catering but refused this, according to reports. Unclear remains if the memoir includes what he ate in prison.

Lawyer’s Statements

Sarkozy’s lawyer, who visited his client every day during the incarceration, informed the court he would be safer out of prison than inside. “He has faced threats against his life, has heard screaming at night and emergency responses next door as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Legal Proceedings

He entered custody in late October after a French court imposed a five-year sentence on conspiracy charges related to a plan to acquire campaign funds for his 2007 presidential race.

He disputes the charges and has appealed against the verdict, and a fresh trial is scheduled for next spring.