Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been given a five-year prison sentence after he was found guilty by a Paris court of criminally conspiring with Libya over illegal campaign financing.
Sarkozy, who has always denied the charges, was accused of making a deal in 2005 with the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to obtain campaign financing in exchange for supporting the then-isolated Libyan government on the international stage.
The judge, who acquitted Sarkozy of other charges including corruption, said there was no proof that Sarkozy made such a deal with Gaddafi, nor that money that was sent from Libya reached Sarkozy's campaign coffers.
Sarkozy's sentence means he will go to prison regardless of whether or not he launches an appeal.
But the Paris criminal court ordered that he should be placed in custody at a later date, with prosecutors given one month to inform the former head of state when he should go to prison.
The judge also ordered Sarkozy to pay a €100,000 fine.
The court found the former French president guilty of criminal conspiracy in a case related to the provision of millions of euros in illegal financing from Gaddafi for his successful 2007 presidential bid.
Judge Nathalie Gavarino said Sarkozy, as a serving minister and party leader at the time, had "allowed his close collaborators and political supporters over whom he had authority and who acted in his name" to approach the Libyan authorities "in order to obtain or attempt to obtain financial support".
The court's ruling, however, did not follow the conclusion of prosecutors that Sarkozy was the alleged beneficiary of the illegal campaign financing.
The 70-year-old, who was present in court accompanied by his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, has been on trial since January on charges of "concealing the embezzlement of public funds, passive corruption, illegal campaign financing and criminal conspiracy with a view to committing a crime".
He has already been convicted in two separate cases.
The right-wing politician, who was president of France from 2007 to 2012, was acquitted of all other charges including passive corruption and illegal campaign financing.
At issue is an affair alleged to involve Libyan spies, a convicted terrorist, arms dealers and allegations that Gaddafi provided Sarkozy's campaign with millions of euros shipped to Paris in suitcases.
Sarkozy had said the case is politically motivated.
Two former close aides were also convicted.
His former right-hand man Claude Gueant was found guilty of passive corruption and falsification while former minister Brice Hortefeux was found guilty of criminal conspiracy.
Eric Woerth, Sarkozy's 2007 campaign treasurer, was acquitted.
Investigators alleged he made a corrupt pact with the Libyan government.
Despite lingering legal headaches and having his Legion of Honour, France's highest distinction, stripped in June, Sarkozy remains an influential figure on the French political stage.
