A Seoul court has sentenced former President Park Geun-hye to eight years in prison on charges of pocketing special funds from the state spy agency and interfering in elections during her term in office. 

The Seoul Central District Court on Friday handed Park a six-year prison term and a fine of three-point-three billion won for illegally taking off-book funds from the National Intelligence Service(NIS). It also gave her a two-year prison sentence for meddling in then-ruling Saenuri Party's candidate nominations for the 2016 general elections. 

Given that Park has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for her role in a massive corruption scandal that led to her removal from office, the impeached president now faces a total of 32 years in prison. 

On the charge of receiving special activity funds from the NIS, the court only found Park guilty of bringing about loss of government money and not of bribery. 

The court said that Park abused her power as president to continuously receive the NIS special funds, an action it claimed rattled the very foundation of budget execution. The court said even though Park is responsible for the significant loss in state coffers, she has denied the charges and has instead put the blame on her aides. 

On the charge of illegally interfering in the nomination of Saenuri Party candidates for the 2016 general elections, the court said Park had harmed democracy. 

Park did not appear in court for the sentencing, which was televised live. The former president has been boycotting her trials, which she claims are "politically motivated" and has accused the judiciary and prosecution of being unfair.