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The ex-president of France plans a memoir next month titled Diary of a Prisoner, which recounts the period endured in jail.

This news came shortly after the former president gained freedom while he contests the court ruling on charges of unlawful coordination connected to efforts to secure political financing linked to the government of former Libyan leader.

Life Behind Bars: Inner Thoughts

“Behind bars one sees little, with little to occupy time,” he notes in an extract, suggesting the memoir centers around his thoughts while in seclusion instead of extensive analysis regarding the strained and crisis-hit correctional facilities in the country.

“Quiet is absent, not present at the prison, where one hears a lot to hear,” he adds. “The din persists relentlessly. But, just like the desert, one’s inner world grows stronger behind bars.”

Release Hearing: Sharing the Struggle

While appealing for release, Sarkozy was present by video link from inside the facility, describing his time inside as gruelling. He had told the court: “I wish to commend the correctional officers, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this ordeal manageable – because it is a nightmare.”

“I never imagined that in my seventies, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s a trial I must endure. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, deeply straining. It has an impact all who experience it due to its intensity.”

First of Its Kind

He, who served as France’s president for a five-year term, set a precedent as former head from the EU and the first postwar leader in the French Republic to be incarcerated.

Prior to imprisonment he declared he intended to spend the period for authoring a memoir.

Books in Prison

Unconfirmed is if he found the opportunity to read and critique the volumes he had in his cell: a biography of Jesus in two parts together with Dumas’s work the famous story, in which a wrongfully accused individual ends up incarcerated later flees to seek vengeance.

Prison Conditions

The former leader was held in isolation to protect him in a cell approximately nine square meters with his own shower and toilet at La Santé prison in the city. Security personnel stayed in a neighbouring cell.

Reports indicated his diet consisted solely dairy snacks during his stay because he feared prison cuisine may have been contaminated. Although he had access to prepare his own meals but he turned this down, according to reports. Unclear remains if the memoir includes his dietary choices.

Lawyer’s Statements

The legal representative, who saw him regularly daily during the incarceration, informed the court he would be safer out of prison rather than in custody. “He received menacing messages, has heard screaming after dark and emergency responses next door when a prisoner self-harmed.”

Case Background

Sarkozy went to prison last month after a Paris court gave him five years in prison for illegal collaboration over a scheme to acquire election financing for his 2007 presidential race.

He disputes the charges and is contesting the ruling, and another court case planned for the coming spring.