Paris: Former French President Jacques Chirac has died at the age of 86, CNN reported on Thursday.
Chirac had served as a head of state from 1995 to 2007 and as mayor of Paris prior to that from 1977 to 1995.
He was most remembered for his defiant stand against the United States-led war in Iraq, and for shortening the presidential term from seven to five years in a referendum in 2000.
In recent years, Chirac had suffered from memory loss and was rarely seen in public. In years since the end of his political career, he was dogged by charges of corruption dating back decades to his time as a mayor of Paris.
Chirac remained one of the most popular public figures in France.
