A Paris court sentenced former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to 5 years in prison and — in a major surprise — said he’ll be incarcerated even if he appeals, after finding him guilty Thursday in his trial for alleged illegal campaign financing by Libya.

The court said the date of his incarceration will be decided later, sparing the 70-year-old the humiliation of being marched out of the courtroom by police officers and going straight to jail.

Reacting to the sentence, Sarkozy said he was the victim of scandalous injustice and hatred that “has no limits."

The court found Sarkozy guilty of criminal association in a plot from 2005 to 2007 to finance his campaign with funds from Libya in exchange for diplomatic favors. But it cleared him of three other charges -- including passive corruption, illegal campaign financing and concealment of the embezzlement of public funds.

The court also found two of Sarkozy’s closest associates when he was president guilty of criminal association but likewise acquitted them of some other charges.

Sarkozy, who was elected in 2007 but lost his bid for reelection in 2012, denied all wrongdoing during a three-month trial earlier this year that also involved 11 co-defendants, including three former ministers.

Despite multiple legal scandals that have clouded his presidential legacy, Sarkozy remains an influential figure in right-wing politics in France and in entertainment circles, by virtue of his marriage to Bruni-Sarkozy.

AP video part shot by Masha Macpherson