PARIS | A Paris judge delayed a historic trial in which former French President Jacques Chirac is accused of corruption, suspending the proceedings until at least June because of a complaint by defense lawyers.
Tuesday’s decision threw an unexpected wrench in a case that took years to make it to court and threatened to expose the ugly underbelly of French politics as the country gears up for next year’s presidential race.
Mr. Chirac is the first former French leader to face trial since the World War II era.
The trial, which opened Monday, centers on Mr. Chirac’s time as mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995, before he became president. He enjoyed immunity from prosecution during his 12 years as head of state.
Exceptionally, two different investigations were combined into one trial, both focusing on accusations that he misappropriated city money for his conservative political party. Mr. Chirac repeatedly has denied wrongdoing.
A lawyer for one of Mr. Chirac’s co-defendants argued that one of the complaints was made too long ago to merit a trial today, and that it wasn’t constitutional to combine the two cases into a single trial.
Judge Dominique Pauthe on Tuesday sent that protest to France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, which has three months to decide if the case merits consideration by the Constitutional Council - the body that judges the constitutionality of French laws.
Taking into account that maximum three-month process, Judge Pauthe then delayed the proceedings in his court until June 20, when it will simply set a date for the trial to resume - possibly months from now or even deep into 2012.
That date will depend on lawyers’ availability and possibly an unwritten rule in French jurisprudence that politicians should not be tried during the electoral campaign. France’s presidential and legislative elections are planned for next year.
While Mr. Chirac has retired from day-to-day politics, he remains a huge presence in the political landscape - and President Nicolas Sarkozy was the candidate of Mr. Chirac’s former conservative party.
Mr. Chirac himself was not present in court Tuesday. He was back in his office, where he did not speak to gathered reporters.
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