Former French PM Dominique de Villepin has been cleared of plotting to discredit the then interior minister and now President, Nicolas Sarkozy.
He had been accused of failing to stop the Clearstream corruption inquiry into Mr Sarkozy, despite knowing the claims against his rival were false.
Both men had been hoping to succeed Jacques Chirac as president in the 2007 election.
Several other defendants in the case were found guilty on various charges.
The judge in the case said there was no proof Mr de Villepin had acted in bad faith, and he was cleared on all four counts of complicity to slander, to use forgeries, dealing in stolen property and breach of trust.
There were cheers outside the courtroom as the verdict was read out, but Mr de Villepin showed little emotion, says the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby in Paris.
After the verdict, he said outside the courtroom: "After many years of ordeal, my innocence has been recognised. I was hurt by the image of politics that was portrayed, of the commitment that I have made over the past 30 years.
"I am now looking to the future to serve the French people and contribute in a spirit of unity to the recovery of France."
The former prime minister is now likely to relaunch his political career and to challenge President Sarkozy in the next general election in 2012, our correspondent says.
His acquittal will be a bitter blow to Mr Sarkozy, who is celebrating his 55th birthday on Thursday, and who had promised he would "hang from a butcher's hook" for trying to smear his name, she adds.
Complex investigation
In 2004, Mr Sarkozy's name appeared on a list of top politicians and businessmen who were wrongly linked to an illegal bank account in Luxembourg.
It was alleged those named on the list had received bribes from international arms sales.
The list was sent to people including Mr de Villepin, who was accused of failing to stop the conspiracy.
During the investigation, Mr De Villepin admitted he knew of the documents - but the court found no evidence to prove he had known they had been faked.
At the trial, prosecutors had called for him to receive an 18-month suspended sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros (£39,000).
Three other defendants were convicted, including a former executive of the EADS aerospace group, Jean-Louis Gergorin, who admitted leaking the fake list to investigators, and Imad Lahoud, a computer specialist, who confessed to adding Mr Sarkozy's name to the list.
They were respectively sentenced to three years in prison with 21 months suspended and three years in prison with 18 months suspended.
No comments:
Post a Comment