Charles Pasqua, hard-line former French security chief, dies at 88
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE - This Nov. 12, 2009 file picture shows former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua reacting during a press conference in Paris, France. Charles Pasqua, a French Resistance fighter who went on to become France’s top security chief and a powerful player on the French right, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File) (The Associated Press)
Charles Pasqua, a French Resistance fighter who went on to become the country's top security chief and a powerful player on the right, has died. He was 88.
French President Francois Hollande confirmed the death in a communique, calling him a "Gaullist" whose "whole personality enlivened French political life."
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy — who beat Pasqua out for a mayoral race in 1983 — said in a tweet that "France has lost one of its greatest servants."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Pasqua became interior minister in 1986, when Socialist Francois Mitterrand was president and conservative Jacques Chirac was prime minister. He served as interior minister once again from 1993-95.
But the end of his political life was marked by chronic allegations of corruption which led to several suspended prison sentences.