Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been convicted of criminal conspiracy in a case involving millions of euros of illicit funds. The unlawful money originated from the late Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. As a result of the conviction, Sarkozy was handed a five-year prison sentence.

The Paris criminal court dismissed all remaining counts against him, including charges of passive corruption and illegal campaign financing.

According to the BBC, the ruling means he will spend time in jail even if he launches an appeal, which Sarkozy says he intends to do.

Speaking after Thursday’s hearing, the 70-year-old, who was president from 2007-12, said the verdict was “extremely serious for the rule of law”.

Sarkozy faced allegations that he deployed the money received from Gaddafi to finance his 2007 presidential election campaign. The former President, however, maintains that the entire case against him is politically motivated.

In exchange, the prosecution alleged Sarkozy promised to help Gaddafi combat his reputation as a pariah with Western countries.

Judge Nathalie Gavarino said Sarkozy had allowed close aides to contact Libyan officials with a view to obtaining financial support for his campaign.

But the court ruled that there was not enough evidence to find Sarkozy was the beneficiary of the illegal campaign financing.

He was also ordered to pay a fine of €100,000 ($117,000, £87,000).

There was a shocked intake of breath in court when the judge read out her sentence.

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The possibility of Sarkozy being sent to a Paris prison in the coming days marks a humiliating and historic first for a former French President. This fate looms over a man who has consistently asserted his innocence throughout this trial and his various other legal battles.

“What happened today… is of extreme gravity regarding the rule of law, and for the trust one can have in the justice system,” Sarkozy said outside the court building.

“If they absolutely want me to sleep in jail, I will sleep in jail, but with my head held high,” he said.

The investigation was opened in 2013, two years after Saif al-Islam, son of the then-Libyan leader, first accused Sarkozy of taking millions of his father’s money for campaign funding.

The following year, Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine – who for a long time acted as a middleman between France and the Middle East – said he had written proof that Sarkozy’s campaign bid was “abundantly” financed by Tripoli, and that the €50m (£43m) worth of payments continued after he became president.

Among the others accused in the trial were former interior ministers Claude Gueant and Brice Hortefeux. The court found Gueant guilty of corruption, among other charges, and Hortefeux was found guilty of criminal conspiracy.

Sarkozy’s wife, Italian-born former supermodel and singer Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, was charged last year with hiding evidence linked to the Gaddafi case and associating with wrongdoers to commit fraud, both of which she denies.

Since losing his re-election bid in 2012, Sarkozy has been targeted by several criminal investigations.

He also appealed against a February 2024 ruling, which found him guilty of overspending on his 2012 re-election campaign, then hiring a PR firm to cover it up. He was handed a one-year sentence, of which six months were suspended.

In 2021, Sarkozy became the first former French President to be handed a custodial sentence after his conviction for attempting to bribe a judge back in 2014. Following an appeal in December, the Paris appeals court ruled that he could serve his time at home under an electronic tag, rather than going to prison.