Nicolas Sarkozy spoke via videoconference, while the Paris Court of Appeal examined his request for release

For release requests, there is no prisoner extraction. Therefore, the former head of state was heard from a long distance.

“It’s difficult, it’s very difficult.” Pale-skinned, bloodshot eyes, gray shirt and black sweater beneath his navy blue, Nicolas Sarkozy spoke from the visiting room of La Santé prison on Wednesday, November 10, while the High Court was hearing his release application. Via video conference, the former head of state discussed this matter “nightmare” that he had experienced over the past twenty days, spent locked in his cell.

“This ordeal befell me”he admitted. “I hope the court is convinced of one thing: I never had any intention or crazy idea to ask Gaddafi for anything. To evade justice would be to confess. I will never admit to anything.”

“I will respect everything the court asks of me, as I always do.” also promised former heads of state who made “a tribute to the prison staff who were so humane and made this nightmare more bearable”.

His lawyer Jean-Michel Darrois also spoke about his client’s fate: “Although he was a strong, sturdy and courageous man, this captivity was a great suffering.” Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to five years in prison in September for criminal conspiracy in a 2007 Libyan campaign financing case.