French court opens trial of ex-President Chirac

[March 07, 2011]  PARIS (AP) -- A French court has opened a trial into corruption charges against former President Jacques Chirac and nine other defendants.

Chirac was not present for the first day of the trial Monday, focused on procedural issues.

He is accused of embezzlement, breach of trust and conflict of interest, based on allegations linked to his tenure as Paris mayor, before he became president in 1995.

He denies wrongdoing. He is the first French president to go on trial since France's Nazi-era leader was exiled.

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AP's earlier story is below.

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PARIS (AP) -- A long-awaited French corruption case is expected to go to trial Monday with an unusually influential defendant: former President Jacques Chirac.

A last-minute protest by one of Chirac's nine co-defendants has come up over procedural issues, but the court isn't expected to rule on that motion until at least Tuesday.

Chirac, 78, is accused of embezzlement, breach of trust and conflict of interest, based on allegations linked to his tenure as Paris mayor -- before he became president from 1995 to 2007.

A prison term against the man who famously rallied against George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq is seen as highly unlikely. But, in principle if convicted, Chirac could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined euro150,000 ($210,000).

Chirac is not expected in court until Tuesday. Monday will largely be devoted to procedural issues for the monthlong trial.

Media interest in the case is high. Security teams have blocked off Chirac's access route into the courtroom to avoid photographers and TV crews.

The proceedings will take place in the 11th Chamber at Paris' central courthouse on the Ile de la Cite island in the Seine River, not far from Notre Dame cathedral. The chamber, now devoted to financial affairs, was where Marie Antoinette and others were tried during the French Revolution.

Investigating magistrates say Chirac masterminded a scheme to have Paris City Hall pay for work that benefited his political party while he was mayor. One allegation is that the head of a top French labor union had his bodyguard and driver improperly paid for by the city.

Chirac has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. He insists that France had no judicial rules at the time that laid out party financing and that the expenses were approved by the city council.

For years, Chirac benefited from presidential immunity to avoid legal proceedings. Some claims were suspended at the time, allowing the statute of limitations to invalidate many allegations against him.

The trial centers on alleged wrongdoing in only last three years of his 18-year term as mayor, largely because the allegations of hundreds of other bogus jobs before then are considered too old to warrant a trial.

Chirac is best known abroad as a prominent critic of the U.S.-led Iraq war.

His health has been in question. In January, Chirac told a French TV station he was doing "fine" and denied he was too feeble to stand trial, and his wife denied a report saying he might have Alzheimer's disease as "a lie."

Chirac was hospitalized for a week in 2005 for a vascular problem that has never been fully explained.

[Associated Press; By JAMEY KEATEN]

Pierre-Antoine Souchard contributed to this report.

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