De Villepin denies plot to smear Sarkozy

Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin entered the witness box in a slander trial today to deny orchestrating a plot to discredit President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Calmly and methodically, Mr de Villepin, famed for a 2003 speech at the United Nations arguing against the invasion of Iraq, laid out his defence in what the French have dubbed the Clearstream trial.