The corruption trial against former French President Jacques Chirac was suspended by presiding judge, Dominique Pauthe, on Tuesday.
The Paris judge is giving a higher French court until June 20 to rule on a constitutionality challenge made by one of the defendants.
The challenge is based on a technicality wherein two cases, seemingly unrelated to each other, were combined to form the basis of the charges against Chirac and nine other defendants.
The charges include, embezzlement, abuse of trust, and a conflict of interest, dating back to his function as mayor of Paris between 1977 and 1995.
Chirac is accused of using public funds to add 28 friends and party members to the city’s payroll, with all of them performing “phantom jobs,” The Epoch Times previously reported.
According to an All Voices report, the city of Paris settled its case with Chirac last year after prosecutors found that they didn’t have sufficient evidence for a conviction.
According to AFP, the second case against Chirac was initiated by magistrates in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, in 1995.
There is speculation that Chirac, who did not show up in court on Monday and Tuesday, will probably never appear in court.
“Jacques Chirac is once again going to escape the justice system,” Jerome Karsenti, lawyer for the anti-corruption association, Anticor, said on Tuesday.
The Paris judge is giving a higher French court until June 20 to rule on a constitutionality challenge made by one of the defendants.
The challenge is based on a technicality wherein two cases, seemingly unrelated to each other, were combined to form the basis of the charges against Chirac and nine other defendants.
The charges include, embezzlement, abuse of trust, and a conflict of interest, dating back to his function as mayor of Paris between 1977 and 1995.
Chirac is accused of using public funds to add 28 friends and party members to the city’s payroll, with all of them performing “phantom jobs,” The Epoch Times previously reported.
According to an All Voices report, the city of Paris settled its case with Chirac last year after prosecutors found that they didn’t have sufficient evidence for a conviction.
According to AFP, the second case against Chirac was initiated by magistrates in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, in 1995.
There is speculation that Chirac, who did not show up in court on Monday and Tuesday, will probably never appear in court.
“Jacques Chirac is once again going to escape the justice system,” Jerome Karsenti, lawyer for the anti-corruption association, Anticor, said on Tuesday.
