PARIS—A French court on Friday sentenced two one-time aides to former French president Nicolas Sarkozy to jail for their role in the misuse of public funds to finance opinion poll contracts. Five of Sarkozy’s former aides and allies from his time as president between 2007 and 2012 were on trial on charges of favoritism, conspiracy, and misuse of public funds over the awarding of contracts worth 7.5 million euros ($8.5 million). Sarkozy himself, who had presidential immunity in this specific case, was not directly implicated and had sparred with the judges over whether he could be compelled to testify. On Friday, the court convicted his former chief of staff Claude Gueant of cronyism, sentencing the top aide to eight months in jail. Consultant Patrick Buisson was handed a two-year suspended jail term and a 150,000 euro fine for misusing public money, court documents showed. They had denied any wrongdoing. A …