France ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy sentenced to prison

A French court found former president Nicolas Sarkozy, 66, guilty on Monday of trying to bribe a judge and influence peddling, making him the second head of state in modern-day France to be convicted of corruption.

He was handed a three-year prison sentence after a court convicted him for trying to illegally influence a judge, but with two years suspended it is unlikely he will physically go to prison.

The court said Sarkozy, who was president from 2007 to 2012, could serve the sentence by wearing an electronic bracelet at home.

In 2014, he tried to illegally obtain information on an ongoing investigation into his campaign finances from a senior magistrate.

He denied all the allegations against him in a 10-day trial that took place last year.

Sarkozy's lawyer, Thierry Herzog, and the senior judge, Gilbert Azibert, also denied wrongdoing. Both were handed the same sentence as the former president. 

In a separate investigation, Sarkozy is accused of having taken millions from former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to illegally finance his 2007 campaign. The trial on charges of illegal campaign financing will take place later this month.