A French court on Thursday acquitted former prime minister Edouard Balladur on corruption charges after he was accused of using kickbacks from an arms deal, but convicted his former defence minister. Balladur, 91, was found innocent in the so-called Karachi Affair by the Law Court of the Republic (CJR), which tries serving and former ministers for alleged violations committed while in office. His former defence minister Francois Leotard was convicted of complicity in the misuse of assets and handed a suspended two-year prison term and a fine of 100,000 euros ($120,000). Neither was present in court for the verdict. asl-sjw/js/jv