Jacques Chirac, former French president, dies at 86

Former French president Jacques Chirac has passed away at the age of 86 on Thursday. He was a center-right career politician who served as head of state from 1995 to 2007.

“President Jacques Chirac died this morning surrounded by his family, peacefully,” his son-in-law Frederic Salat-Baroux told AFP.

The French politician boasted one of the longest continuous political careers in Europe, being selected president twice, twice prime minister and 18 years as mayor of Paris.

Reportedly, for several years he had suffered from memory loss said to be linked to a form of Alzheimer’s disease or to the minor stroke that he had while in office.

The world will remember Chirac for leading France’s strong opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 when approval ratings for his anti-war stance in France soared to 90%.

“War is always a last resort. It is always proof of failure. It is always the worst of solutions because it brings death and misery,” he said a week before the US-led coalition forces invaded Iraq. He warned that any occupation of Iraq would prove a “nightmare”.

He became the first former president to be convicted of corruption following embezzlement charges in a party funding scandal when he was mayor of Paris, after a historic trial in December 2011. He was handed a two-year suspended sentence.

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