Chirac's would-be assassin jailed

The defence said Brunerie needed treatment, not a criminal trial

A student who tried to assassinate French President Jacques Chirac at a Bastille Day parade two years ago has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Maxime Brunerie, 27, was convicted of attempted murder by the court in Paris.

He was arrested after firing a hunting rifle as Mr Chirac rode in an open-top car along the Champs-Elysees in Paris on 14 July 2002.

During the trial he told the court he wanted to go down in history as someone who committed a "shocking" act.

At the parade, Brunerie took the rifle out of a guitar case and fired a shot before a quick-thinking bystander grabbed the barrel and pointed it skywards.

I wanted to do something historic... I had mucked up my life. I didn't want to muck up my death Maxime Brunerie

Experts said he could have killed the president if the shot had been on target.

Brunerie told the court earlier on Friday that he wanted to "express my profound and sincere regrets and make a public apology" to Mr Chirac.

His prison sentence is longer than the six to eight years requested by prosecutors, but shorter than the maximum possible life sentence.

Defence lawyers had initially argued that Mr Brunerie had psychological problems and deserved treatment rather than a criminal conviction.

But a judge ordered Brunerie to stand trial after psychologists and psychiatrists concluded that he was mentally impaired but partially responsible for his actions.

'I will be the star'

During the trial, which started on Monday, Brunerie said he had decided to assassinate a world politician at random after being plunged into depression by a failed love affair.

Brunerie had brought the rifle in a guitar case

"I wanted to do something historic, something scandalous. I had mucked up my life. I didn't want to muck up my death," he said.

Christian Gay, a psychiatrist testifying as an expert witness, told the court that Brunerie's personality could be described as "uncertain and fragile".

"But that's not mental illness. He was clearly motivated by three things: the imaginary feeling of a dramatic failure, a deep latent depression and the influence of extreme right ideas," Dr Gay said on Thursday.

Brunerie was known to the French intelligence services for attending meetings organised by right-wing groups.

One day before the attack, Brunerie had posted a message on a British far-right group that read: "Look at the television this Sunday. I will be the star."