Former French President Jacques Chirac dies

Former French President Jacques Chirac died Thursday at the age of 86.

His son-in-law Frederic Salat-Baroux told The Associated Press that Chirac died “peacefully, among his loved ones.”

{mosads}A cause of death was not provided, but Chirac had suffered repeated health problems since leaving office in 2007, including reported strokes.

During his two terms as president, the conservative Chirac championed European unity.

He was best known in the U.S. for strongly opposing the Iraq invasion.

Claims of corruption that surfaced during his time as mayor of Paris never died out during Chirac’s political career.

He was formally charged in 2007 after he left office as president and lost immunity from prosecution.

In 2011, he was found guilty of misuse of public money, breach of trust and illegal conflict of interest. He was given a two-year suspended jail sentence.