A Paris court on Thursday sentenced former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to five years in prison after convicting him of running a criminal conspiracy linked to allegations that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi financed his 2007 presidential campaign.

Sarkozy was acquitted of corruption charges and hiding embezzled public funds.

The court found that Sarkozy, who has consistently denied the allegations, had struck a deal with Gaddafi to secure campaign funding in exchange for political support for the Libyan government on the international stage.

The sentence means Sarkozy will serve prison time regardless of any appeals and has also been ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 euros.