Former French president was talking to court via video link about his request to serve rest of sentence at home
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The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has said his time in prison has been “gruelling” and a “nightmare” as he appeared via video link at a court hearing over his request to serve his sentence at home.
Sarkozy, dressed in a navy blue suit, appeared on camera from prison on Monday, seated at a table with his lawyers beside him. He told the court: “I want to pay tribute to all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this nightmare bearable – because it is a nightmare.”
Sarkozy entered La Santé prison in Paris on 21 October, after being handed a five-year jail sentence for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to obtain funds for his 2007 presidential election campaign from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
