A Paris court sentenced former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to five years in prison on Thursday after finding him guilty on a key charge in his trial for alleged illegal campaign financing by the government of then-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Former President Nicolas Sarkozy's prison sentence has deepened divisions in France over judges' handling of political wrongdoing, months before far-right chief Marine Le Pen attempts to overturn an embezzlement conviction and run for top office.

Nicolas Sarkozy is back where he used to be – dominating the news and dividing the nation. Thirteen years after he left office, he is about to become the first former French president to be sent to prison after getting a five-year term for criminal conspiracy.

French authorities have yet to say, but people familiar with the French judicial system say a likely lockup could be La Sante in Paris, a historic prison that once housed leftist militant Carlos the Jackal and former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.

The Sarkozy-Gaddafi saga began in almost theatrical circumstances.