Argentina's former President Carlos Menem has been sentenced to seven years in prison for illegally selling weapons to countries at war when he was in office during the 1990s.

Menem was found guilty of sending 6,500 weapons to both Croatia and Ecuador. The weapons that ended up in Croatia were sent in seven shipments between 1991 and 1995 when much of the Balkans was under a UN arms embargo.  Weapons arrived in Ecuador aboard three flights in February 1995 at a time when Ecuador was engaged in a border war with Peru.

Menem was originally acquitted of the charges in 2011 but an appeals court in Buenos Aires found him guilty in March. 

Menem is still a senator and enjoys immunity.  But the 82-year-old could be stripped of his status by parliament or jailed when his term expires next year.  However, even if this happened he would probably face house arrest and not prison due to his age.