Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to five years in jail after being found guilty of criminal conspiracy over efforts by close aides to procure funds for his 2007 presidential bid from Libya during the rule of late dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Sarkozy was acquitted by a Paris court of all other charges on Thursday, including corruption and receiving illegal campaign financing.

But the ruling means the former president will spend time in jail even if he appeals, a sentence much harsher than many expected.

Sarkozy, who has always denied the charges, was accused of making a deal with Gaddafi in 2005, when he was France's interior minister, to obtain campaign financing in exchange for supporting the then-isolated Libyan government on the international stage.

The judge

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