The uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was found guilty of acquiring millions of euros worth of French property using funds diverted from the Syrian state and sentenced to four years in prison on Wednesday.
Rifaat al-Assad was convicted of embezzling Syrian state funds to buy homes and offices worth €90m (£80m) to build a French property portfolio.
The 82-year-old former vice-president denies any wrongdoing. His lawyers say he will appeal.
The French court also ruled that all of Rifaat's property in France be seized as well as a property worth 29 million euros in London.
Assad, who was hospitalized with internal bleeding in France in December, was not in court for the ruling.
Assad is a former military commander, widely held responsible for crushing an uprising in 1982 against then-president Hafez al-Assad, Bashar’s father. Many thousands were killed.
