A Parisian court has found former French President Jacques Chirac guilty of two charges in a long-running corruption case
The 79-year-old, on trial for breach of trust and embezzlement of party funds when he was mayor of Paris in the early 1990s, could be have been sentenced to 10 years in prison, but instead received a two-year suspended sentence.
It was alleged that Chirac had paid 28 people from his center-right Rally for the Republic party for municipal jobs that did not exist.
'Inventor of a conspiracy'
According to the charge sheet, Chirac had been the "inventor, author and beneficiary" of a conspiracy to use public money "support his political influence."
It alleged that he had served both his own interests and those of his party, a forerunner to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement.
Allegations against Chirac were first made during his time in office, between 1996 and 2007. However, he enjoyed freedom from immunity and the trial only went ahead in September after years of delays.
The criminal case was the first ever to involve a former French president and is the first of a French head of state since that of Nazi collaborator Marshall Philippe Petain in 1945.
The 79-year-old, on trial for breach of trust and embezzlement of party funds when he was mayor of Paris in the early 1990s, could be have been sentenced to 10 years in prison, but instead received a two-year suspended sentence.
It was alleged that Chirac had paid 28 people from his center-right Rally for the Republic party for municipal jobs that did not exist.
'Inventor of a conspiracy'
According to the charge sheet, Chirac had been the "inventor, author and beneficiary" of a conspiracy to use public money "support his political influence."
It alleged that he had served both his own interests and those of his party, a forerunner to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement.
Allegations against Chirac were first made during his time in office, between 1996 and 2007. However, he enjoyed freedom from immunity and the trial only went ahead in September after years of delays.
The criminal case was the first ever to involve a former French president and is the first of a French head of state since that of Nazi collaborator Marshall Philippe Petain in 1945.
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