Former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin acquitted in slander case

The ruling was expected to boost De Villepin's position as the conservative most capable of challenging Sarkozy's near monopoly of the moderate right that now dominates French politics.

"It's been a nasty birthday for Sarkozy," said Gael Sliman, political commentator and deputy director of France's BVA polling institute. The president turned 55 on Thursday.

De Villepin had been accused of complicity in slander and forgery in connection with a 2004 smear campaign that sought to connect Sarkozy and more than three dozen other people to alleged kickbacks from a weapons sale to Taiwan in 1991. A list of bank accounts allegedly held by Luxembourg-based Clearstream and linked to kickbacks was later revealed to be a hoax.

The judges, who convicted three other defendants for their role in the conspiracy and acquitted another, said they could not prove that De Villepin knew the list was fake when he learned of the so-called Clearstream affair. If convicted, he could have faced a fine of $63,000 and a suspended prison sentence.

(...) In a statement, Sarkozy defended his decision to file an official complaint on charges of libel that led to the case because he wanted the "serious" fake listings "brought to the attention of the French."

He said he would not appeal the verdict.

The judges found co-defendant Jean-Louis Gergorin, a former executive at aerospace group EADS, guilty of slander, forgery and other charges. He was sentenced to three years in prison, with 21 months suspended, and fined $56,000.

Imad Lahoud was sentenced to three years in prison with 18 months of that suspended and a $56,000 fine for falsification and other charges. Florian Bourges was given a four-month suspended sentence for his role in the conspiracy. The final defendant, investigative journalist Denis Robert, was acquitted.