Disgraced former CIA Director David Petraeus will not go to jail for giving his mistress classified material while she was working on a book about him, a judge ruled today. The former U.S. Army General, whose career was destroyed when the affair with Paula Broadwell emerged in November 2012, avoided jail time at the hearing in Charlotte, North Carolina on Thursday and was instead sentenced to two years probation. He was also fined $100,000 - more than double the $40,000 his attorneys had requested. While Petraeus had agreed two months ago to plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material, he formally entered his plea during Thursday's hearing. Petraeus was wearing his wedding ring but there was no sign of his wife, Holly. He told the court he wanted to apologize to those closest to him 'for the pain my actions caused'. Apologies: Former CIA director David Petraeus apologized for his 'mistakes' as he spoke outside the North Carolina courthouse where he was sentenced to two years probation on Thursday afternoon . Sentenced: As well as the probation, he was fined $100,000 for leaking classified information to his mistress . Following the hearing, he briefly addressed the media outside the courthouse. 'As I did in the past, I apologize for those closest to me and many others,' he said, before thanking his supporters including his family, colleagues and fellow veterans. 'I now look forward to moving on with the next phase of my life and with continuing to serve our great nation as a private citizen,' he added. Critics have noted that in other cases concerning government leaks, defendants have received far harsher punishments than Petraeus. CIA analyst John Kiriakou who is serving 30 months behind bars for revealing the secret CIA torture program. Ben Wizner, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who represents Edward Snowden, told Reuters that he was not against lighter sentences - as long as such treatment is handed out equally. 'The problem is not that David Petraeus is getting lenient treatment,' Wizner said. 'The problem is that lenient treatment is only available to people in high places.' Petraeus was also given special conditions for his probation. He is allowed to travel internationally with his probation officer's approval, for example, and is allowed to possess firearms. He is allowed to pay the $100,000 fine $25,000 per month until it is paid in full. Going solo: Petraeus, who was seen wearing his wedding ring to  court, was not accompanied by his wife Holly to the sentencing hearing. It emerged in 2012 that he had been having an affair with his biographer . Petraeus has 14 days to file an appeal if he wants to dispute the sentencing. In the previous agreement, prosecutors said that while Broadwell was writing her book in 2011, Petraeus gave her eight binders of classified material he had improperly kept from his time as the top military commander in Afghanistan. Days later, he took the binders back to his house. Among the secret information contained in the 'black books' were the names of covert operatives, the coalition war strategy and notes about Petraeus' discussions with President Barack Obama and the National Security Council, prosecutors said. Those binders were later seized by the FBI in an April 2013 search of Petraeus' Arlington, Virginia, home, where he had kept them in the unlocked drawer of a desk in a ground-floor study. Prosecutors said that after resigning from the CIA in November 2012, Petraeus had signed a form falsely attesting he had no classified material. He also lied to FBI agents by denying he supplied the information to Broadwell, according to court documents. Affair: Petraeus gave his mistress Paula Broadwell, pictured together in 2011, classified material that he had improperly kept from his time in the military. She was writing his biography at the time . Petraeus, a four-star general who served as commander of the U.S. Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, resigned from the CIA in 2012 when the affair emerged but always denied criminal wrongdoing. Broadwell, now 42, met Petraeus, 62, while she was a graduate student at Harvard University, where she was working on a dissertation about him. She wrote his biography, 'All In: The Education of General David Petraeus', which afforded them considerable time together. They carried on an affair between late 2011 and the summer of 2012. But the relationship was later uncovered whiled the FBI investigated claims that one of Petraeus' friends, Florida socialite Jill Kelley, was receiving threatening emails. The messages were found to have been sent by Broadwell, a married mother-of-two. As agents investigated Broadwell's email account, they uncovered the affair and learned the CIA director had shared classified information with her. Petraeus, who remains married to wife Holly, acknowledged the affair as he stepped down, while in May 2013, Broadwell, who is also still married, finally issued an apology for the relationship. 'I have remorse for the harm that this has caused, the sadness it has caused my family and other families,' she told her local station, WSOC. Hurt: Paula Broadwell remains married to husband Scott, pictured together left in 2012, while Petraeus is married to wife Holly, right, despite the affair that forced him to step down as CIA chief in 2012 . 'I'm very blessed. Blessed with an awesome family, a wonderful community that's been a great part of my rehabilitation, if you will. Even when you've made mistakes in life you can still contribute and pick up the stuff and move on.' Petraeus held the CIA post less than a year, not long enough to leave a significant mark on the spy agency. The core of his identity has been a military man. He was brought in by President George W. Bush to command multinational forces in Iraq in 2007, a period when the war began to turn in favor of the U.S. Petraeus' command coincided with the 'surge' of American forces in Iraq and a plan to pay Sunni militias to fight al-Qaeda in Iraq. With American help, the Sunni tribes were able to push out insurgents and enable U.S. troops to withdraw in 2011. Those same Sunni areas are now controlled by the Islamic State group, which evolved from the remnants of al-Qaida after Iraqi's Shiite-led government proved weak.
The former U.S. Army General appeared in court in Charlotte, North Carolina on Thursday for his sentencing hearing . He admitted to giving his biographer mistress classified material he had improperly kept from the military - which carried up to a year in prison . But he was instead sentenced to two years probation and a $100,000 fine . Speaking after, Petraeus apologized for his 'mistakes' but thanked his supporters and said he was looking forward to moving on with his life . He had an affair with Paula Broadwell between late 2011 and summer 2012, and stepped down from the CIA after the relationship emerged .