AFP, Washington: Donald Trump has denounced his indictment as an abuse befitting a banana republic, but the move in fact puts the United States in line with fellow advanced democracies that have prosecuted former leaders.
France, Israel, Italy, South Korea, Romania and Croatia are among countries where courts have convicted a former president or prime minister, with charges pursued against former top leaders in a number of other democracies including Germany, Japan and Portugal.
For the United States, there is no precedent in the republic's nearly 250-year history -- Trump is the first president, current or former, to be charged with a crime.
Trump, who has faced a slew of legal accusations, is expected to turn himself in Tuesday in New York over a $130,000 payment allegedly made to an adult film star to buy her silence during his 2016 campaign over an affair.
"There is evidence out there that democracies can be, and are, able to hold former leaders accountable," said Shelley Inglis, a former United Nations expert on democratic governance and rule of law who is now at the University of Dayton.
She pointed to France -- where two former presidents, Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, were convicted of corruption -- as an example where democratic institutions were not weakened but strengthened, despite "inevitable" accusations from partisans that charges are politically motivated.
Israel imprisoned former prime minister Ehud Olmert over fraud and former president Moshe Katsav for rape. Israel's current and longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, faces charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Recent attempts by his government to weaken the judiciary sparked massive protests.
In South Korea, two successive presidents, Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, were jailed for bribery or corruption, although both were pardoned.
The most frequent international comparison to Trump has been Italian tycoon and three-time prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has faced dozens of trials, including over alleged bribery and sex with an underage girl.
The 86-year-old Berlusconi has never spent time behind bars, perhaps giving Trump a bit of hope.
Trump and his Republican allies have raged against the charges led by Alvin Bragg, Manhattan's elected district attorney.
