Prosecutor Jean-Louis Perol asked the court in Paris to hand Mr Villepin, a possible candidate in the presidential election next April and an arch-enemy of Mr Sarkozy, a suspended jail sentence of 15 months.
Mr Villepin, who has quit Mr Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party, was acquitted last year in the first round of the trial but has landed back in court after an appeal by prosecutors.
He lashed out at the prosecution's demands in a trial where the verdict, due to be handed down in the autumn, could poison the climate in the run-up to a presidential election. Mr Sarkozy is widely expected to run for a second term. » | Tuesday, May 24, 2011
