Reprieve, fine sought against former French premier

Paris public prosecutors demanded a suspended 18-month sentence against former French premier Dominique de Villepin on Tuesday.

The chief prosecutor, Jean-Claude Marin, accused Villepin of main complicity in the Clearsteam case, stating that his "silence" over the action of former EADS chief Jean-Louis Gregorin indulged the slander on purpose.

Marin later asked the Paris court to give an 18-month reprieve sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros (66,000 U.S. dollars) against the ex-premier and foreign minister.

Villepin, 55, was charged with ordering a secret inquiry in January 2004 into a mysterious name list covering high-profile officials involved in the illegal commission from the sale of French warships to Taiwan.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, interior minister of that time, was also named among the list, which turned out to be a hoax.

As Sarkozy and Villepin were competing to succeed President Jacques Chirac in 2004, the slander case was more like a wrestling between political opponents.

Villepin took the stand last week and negated his knowledge of the manipulated list and denied that he ordered a special inquiry focusing on Sarkozy. However, Thierry Herzog, lawyer for Sarkozy, declared in the court on Monday that the plaintiff has "the profound conviction that de Villepin knew what was going on."

During the month-long trial, EADS ex-vice president Gregorin, IT expert Imad Lahoud and journalist Denis Robert are charged with conspiracy in fabricating and circulating the list.

Prosecutors also recommended 3 years in prison including 18 months suspended for Gregorin and two years including 6 months suspended for Lahoud on Tuesday's trial.

The journalist Robert, accused of dealing in stolen property and circulating the list, was cleared of all charges by the prosecutors.

The final verdict will not be reached until January.

Source: Xinhua