His presidential successor Roh Tae Woo was sentenced to 22-1/2 years in prison for a supporting role. Both men were also convicted of massive corruption.
Separately, nine business tycoons including the chairmen of the Samsung and Daewoo groups were sentenced for giving bribes to Roh.
All were given jail terms but the sentence on Samsung's chairman was suspended, meaning he does not have to go to prison.
A total of 13 former military colleagues of Chun and Roh were handed jail sentences of four to 10 years. Another was cleared of all charges. Nine one-time aides, cabinet ministers, bodyguards and other administration officials received jail terms on various charges of bribery, including acting as bagmen for their presidential bosses.
The army massacre in the southern city of Kwangju killed about 200 civilians by official count and crushed democratic opposition to Chun's martial law rule.
Chun and Roh, army generals during the putsch which thrust Chun to power, are expected to appeal the sentences handed down by the Seoul District Criminal Court after what was dubbed South Korea's trial of the century.
Many Koreans are convinced current President Kim Young-sam, whose campaign to right the wrongs of history prompted the legal action, will offer them pardons. Yonhap news agency quoted presidential aides as saying it would be absurd to comment on the possibility of amnesty before the cases were reviewed by higher courts.
After the sentencing of the former heads of state, women relatives of the Kwangju victims attacked Roh's son, Jae-hun, as he left the court and shouted Kill the murderer's son. Earlier the women, dressed in white mourning garb, cheered news of the death sentence. Some burst into tears when they heard Roh had escaped capital punishment.
The three-judge panel said Roh was spared the death sentence in recognition of his role in gaining South Korea entry into the United Nations in 1991 and other diplomatic achievements.
Chun was fined 225.9 billion won ($276 million) and Roh 283.8 billion won, equal to the amount they were convicted of illegally pocketing.
Chun's rise to power came through illegal means which inflicted enormous damage on the people, according to the judges' verdict.
Referring to the massacre, they accused the defendants of putting down popular resistance to clear the way for their rise to power.
Chun and Roh remained defiant throughout the trial, defending the coup as necessary to prevent turmoil following the assassination of President Park Chung-hee.
Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, who heads South Korea's largest industrial conglomerate, was sentenced to two years in jail suspended for three years. That will keep him out of jail. But chairman Kim Woo-choong of Daewoo, the third-ranking business group, was given a two-year jail term without suspension.
Also jailed, for 2-1/2 years, was the head of Dong-Ah group, Choi Won-suk, whose company has massive construction projects in the Middle East and Libya.
It was not clear whether the tycoons would be jailed immediately. I believe the President will pardon the business leaders, said Rhee Namuh, head of research at Dongbang Peregrine Securities. They represent too big a part of the economy.
There is an appeal process, and we expect most of them to get suspended sentences at that point, said a Hyundai Securities broker.