Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to three years imprisonment after a court in Paris found him guilty of corruption.

The court convicted the ex-French president for illicitly trying to influence a judge during his tenure.

According to a French news agency, AFP, the sentence included two years suspended, while Sarkozy was almost certain to appeal and remain free, with no arrest warrant issued, which meant that he might not go to prison.

The news agency relayed that the former president was accused of offering to help a judge get a higher position in exchange for influencing the investigation into his election campaign funding.

Earlier only one president, Jacques Chirac, has been put on trial for corruption during his time in office. He was accused of creating ghost jobs in Paris to fund his party when he was a mayor.