Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, 70, will publish a memoir in which he recounts his 20 days of imprisonment. This sentence was served after his conviction for allowing his relatives to get closer to the Libya of Muammar Gaddafi, who died in 2011, in order to obtain funds intended to illegally finance his victorious campaign of 2007. In his publication, extracts of which were published on Saturday (6), he addresses subjects such as monotony, loneliness and routine, which include food.
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On October 21, Sarkozy became the first French head of state to be imprisoned since the end of World War II and the first among countries now part of the European Union. For three weeks he was confined in the Parisian prison of La Santé, where two police officers were placed in the next cell to guarantee his safety.
The former president wrote a 216-page book called Diary of a Prisoner. The launch is scheduled for next Wednesday, December 10. Excerpts were published on Saturday in several French media, underlines Le Monde:
“Gray dominated everything, devoured everything, covered every surface,” he writes in one passage. “I would have given anything to be able to look out the window, enjoy the view of the cars passing by.”
Among the stories is the first night he spent in prison. Sarkozy says in his book that he knelt down to pray after watching a football match. “It was a natural thing,” he writes. “I stayed like that for several minutes. I prayed for the strength to carry the cross of this injustice.”
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Sarkozy was sentenced to five years in prison but was conditionally released after serving 20 days, following an appeals court ruling that found he was not a flight risk. Judicial control measures must be respected and the Paris Court of Appeal also banned him from leaving France and contacting Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin, whose visit to La Santé prison in Paris sparked controversy.
“It is often said that we learn at any age. It is true, because I learned a lot at La Santé prison, about others and about myself,” he writes in another extract from the book, underlines Le Monde.
Even the details of his diet are shared in the book. His diet consisted of “dairy products, cereal bars, mineral water, apple juice and a few sweets,” recalls the French newspaper.
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