The proceedings are taking place in the 11th Chamber at Paris’ central courthouse on the Ile de la Cite island in the Seine River, not far from Notre Dame cathedral. The chamber, now devoted to financial affairs, was where Marie Antoinette and others were tried during the French Revolution.
Chirac, 78, is the first French head of state to go on trial since the country’s Nazi-era leader was exiled.
The investigating magistrates say Chirac masterminded a scheme to have Paris City Hall pay for work that benefited his political party while he was mayor during the last three years of his 18-year term.
Chirac has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. He insists that France had no judicial rules at the time that laid out party financing and that the expenses were approved by the city council.
For years, Chirac benefited from presidential immunity to avoid legal proceedings. Some claims were suspended at the time, allowing the statute of limitations to invalidate many allegations against him.
Chirac is best known abroad as a prominent critic of the U.S.-led Iraq war. A towering figure in French politics for decades, he championed French exceptionalism.
Source: AP, International Herald Tribune, March 7
Eric Koch’s book, The Weimar Triangle, is available at Indigo-Chapters and in your local bookstore. 
Is it possible that the idea of criminalising political financing schemes, such as, say, in-and-outing worries anyone in Canada these days?
Let us discuss this when our existing plutocracies have become democacies.
Ah, but, as with “the rule of law”, what are “democracies”?