PARIS – An uncle of Syrian President Bashar Assad was sentenced to four years in prison in France on Wednesday for illegally using Syrian state funds to build a French real estate empire.The anti-corruption groups that launched the legal proceedings against Rifaat Assad announced the decision by a Paris court, and hailed it as a new victory in long-running efforts to prosecute foreign leaders accused of hiding stolen money in France.Assad, a former Syrian vice president who fled his country and is now in his 80s, was tried in absentia for medical reasons.Transparency International and French anti-corruption group Sherpa filed a complaint in 2013 accusing Assad of using shell companies in tax havens to launder public funds from Syria into.