Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of criminal conspiracy in a trial over the alleged illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign with funds from the government of then-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Al Jazeera reported.

The Paris criminal court acquitted the 70-year-old of all other charges, including illegal campaign financing and passive corruption, on Thursday. However, the guilty ruling means Sarkozy, who led France between 2007 and 2012 and retired from active politics in 2017, will serve jail time even if he appeals.

Sarkozy was accused of making a deal with Gaddafi in 2005, when he was interior minister, to secure campaign financing in exchange for supporting the then-isolated Libyan government on th

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