Chirac's Would-be Assassin Jailed

A young neo-Nazi sympathiser who took a shot at President Jacques Chirac during France's Bastille Day parade two years ago was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison.

Maxime Brunerie, 27, had faced life in jail but the public prosecutor, arguing that the attempted assassination was prompted more by isolation and "the absolute failure" of Brunerie's family relations than by political or ideological belief, had recommended he serve between six and eight years.

The prosecutor, Philippe Bilger, said in his closing statement: "It was not a militant extremist who went off the rails on July 14 2002, but a human being with whom something was seriously wrong. He sought to give himself an importance his life did not offer him."

Unusually, the court opted for a slightly longer sentence.

Brunerie told the court he "sincerely and deeply regretted" the attempt on Mr Chirac's life. "I would like to present my public apologies to the president," he said. "I wrote him ... I am waiting for a sign from him and hoping he will forgive me."

Brunerie, who was convicted of attempted murder, pulled a rifle from a guitar case at the annual military parade on the Champs-Elysées and firing a shot as Mr Chirac rode by in an open-topped car.

Bystanders pushed the rifle into the air as the shot went off, and police wrestled the gunman to the ground as he attempted to shoot himself. The French president was not hurt, nor even aware the incident had happened.

Mr Bilger said the part-time accountancy student, a member of several small, far-right groups, could not be considered wholly responsible for his actions but was certainly not deranged: "He has not tried to duck responsibility, and the court should do him the honour of recognising that."

During the week-long trial, medical experts argued that Brunerie had plainly been troubled and possibly suicidal, but not mad. Brunerie's lawyers argued that their client should be treated, not punished.