One of them sang tunes from the “Lion King” cartoon, and another for several minutes “struck the bars of his cell with a metal object,” writes the ex-president of France in his book “Prisoner’s Diary.”
BRUSSELS, December 9. /TASS/. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who spent 21 days in jail, complained in his book “Prisoner’s Diary” about other inmates who turned his life in the correctional facility into a nightmare, as well as about the living conditions in his cell. This was reported by the publication Politico, which reviewed the text of the book, set to go on sale December 10.
“The inmate incessantly struck the bars of his cell with a metal implement. This din went on for several minutes. It seemed endless to me. The atmosphere was menacing. Welcome to hell!” the publication quotes a passage from the book in which the former French president unsuccessfully attempted to open a window in his prison cell and “immediately regretted it.” Sarkozy complained about another inmate from the adjacent cell, “who spent half his time singing songs from the ‘Lion King’ cartoon, and the other half hitting the bars with a spoon.”
The former French leader was also dissatisfied with the conditions in his cell, which he likened to a room in a cheap hotel. “I have never had a harder mattress, even when I served in the army,” he writes. “The pillows were made of a strange, plastic-like substance, and the blankets were barely functional (just a name).” Sarkozy describes how he refused food because lunch was delivered too early. “I don’t think I missed much by foregoing the meal served on small plastic trays. I have nothing against whoever prepared it, but it was not very appetizing,” he noted, adding that the smell of the prison food made him nauseous, and the baguette provided was soggy.
The 70-year-old former French president, who held that post from 2007-2012, was found guilty on September 25 of complicity in an organized crime group in the case of Libyan financing for his election campaign, but was acquitted of charges of concealing embezzlement of state funds and passive corruption. However, the court did not establish the fact of illegal financing of the 2007 election campaign. Sarkozy was sentenced to five years of imprisonment. On October 21, he began serving his sentence in a solitary cell at the Santé prison in the 14th arrondissement of Paris and stayed there for 21 days.
On November 10, the Paris Court of Appeal granted the request of Sarkozy’s lawyers to cancel the preliminary detention and transfer him to judicial supervision. Under the terms of judicial supervision, he is prohibited from leaving French territory and communicating with any current French Minister of Justice during the trial, including Gérald Darmanin, who had visited him at Santé prison before the current decision was announced. The review of Sarkozy’s appeal against the September verdict in the case of his campaign financing is expected in March 2026.
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