PARIS: A Paris court on Thursday sentenced former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to five years in prison after finding him guilty of criminal conspiracy in a scheme to finance his 2007 campaign with funds from Libya.

The ruling made Sarkozy the first former president of modern France sentenced to actual time behind bars. The court said his imprisonment would start at a date yet to be fixed, sparing the 70-year-old the humiliation of being led out of the courtroom by police. He intends to appeal.

The court found Sarkozy guilty of criminal association in a plot from 2005 to 2007, when he served as interior minister, to finance his winning presidential campaign with Libyan funds in exchange for diplomatic favors.

It cleared him of three other charges, including passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, and concealing the embezzlement of public funds.

Sarkozy denounced the ruling as a humiliation for France. “If they absolutely want me to sleep in prison, I will sleep in prison. But with my head held high. I am innocent. This injustice is a scandal," he said, standing beside his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

Chief judge Nathalie Gavarino told Sarkozy: “The goal of the criminal conspiracy was to give you an advantage in the electoral campaign” and “to prepare an act of corruption at the highest possible level.” She said the facts were “exceptionally serious” and capable of undermining citizens’ trust in public institutions.

The court found that Sarkozy’s closest associates, former ministers Claude Guéant and Brice Hortefeux, were guilty of criminal association.

Hortefeux received a two-year sentence to be served outside prison with an electronic bracelet, while Guéant was given six years but wasn’t immediately jailed for health reasons.

The court said both held secret meetings in 2005 with Abdullah al-Senoussi, intelligence chief and brother-in-law of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

The Paris court described the contacts as a “corruption pact,” noting that favors offered to Libya included talks about al-Senoussi’s judicial fate, nuclear cooperation, and French efforts to help Libya shed pariah status.

While it couldn’t confirm Libyan money was delivered, it ruled that under French law, a corrupt scheme can still be criminal even if money is not proven.

Allegations of Libyan financing emerged in 2011 when Gadhafi and Libyan media claimed millions had been funneled into Sarkozy’s campaign.

In 2012, Mediapart published a memo referencing a €50 million deal, though the court later said it “now appears most likely” to be a forgery.

Investigators also examined claims from Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, who alleged delivering suitcases of cash from Tripoli to Sarkozy’s office.

He later retracted his statement, sparking a separate inquiry into possible witness tampering involving Sarkozy and his wife. That case is ongoing. Takieddine, a co-defendant, died Tuesday in Beirut.

During the trial, Sarkozy denounced the case as a “plot” by the Gadhafi clan in retaliation for his role in pushing for military intervention against the dictator in 2011.

Sarkozy’s political legacy has been tarnished by a series of convictions. In June, he was stripped of the Legion of Honor after a 2014 corruption conviction, for which he served time under electronic monitoring. He was also convicted of illegal financing in his failed 2012 re-election bid, a verdict now under appeal.

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Paris court convicts Sarkozy, five-year prison in Libyan case