No jail request for French ex-PM

Mr de Villepin has denied any wrongdoing

French prosecutors have demanded an 18-month suspended sentence for former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin in his smear trial, but no jail time.

Mr de Villepin stands accused of plotting to hurt President Nicolas Sarkozy's chances of winning the 2007 presidential election, which he denies.

He had faced a maximum of five years in jail if convicted.

Mr de Villepin, who was also a government minister at the time, has denied orchestrating any plot.

"Nicolas Sarkozy had promised to hang me on a butcher's hook [and] I see that the promise has been kept," Mr de Villepin was quoted as saying by AFP news agency after the sentencing request which also included a 45,000-euro (£41,000, $67,300) fine.

Dubbed France's trial of the decade, the hearings are due to end on Friday but a verdict is not expected before January.

'Not deliberate'

Mr de Villepin, 55, is charged with plotting in 2004 to discredit Mr Sarkozy at a time when the two men were rivals to succeed then-President Jacques Chirac.

He is accused of passing forged documents to a French magistrate that wrongly implicated Mr Sarkozy in a major corruption scandal.

Mr Sarkozy filed suit, saying he believed Mr de Villepin was the "primary instigator" behind the campaign to thwart his presidential bid.

Prosecutors argued that while Mr de Villepin had not deliberately taken part in the plot to defame Mr Sarkozy, he had failed to take action to stop the conspiracy.

Prosecutors also recommended sentences for three other defendants in the case.