Former French president Jacques Chirac's historic corruption trial was set to resume Monday after a six-month delay, but the proceedings hung in the balance after doctors declared him unfit to be put on the stand, DPA reported.
Chirac, 78, is charged with misuse of public funds, breach of trust and illegal conflict of interest over a "fake jobs" scandal dating to the early 1990s when he was mayor of Paris. He later went on to serve two terms as president between 1995 and 2007.
While he was president Chirac was immune from prosecution.
After years of delays, his trial began on March 8 but was adjourned a day later while a higher court examined a constitutional question raised by a lawyer for one of his nine co-defendants.
The lawyer argued that the statute of limitations had expired in the case together. The country's highest appeals court declared the challenge invalid.
Chirac's failing health had cast doubt over the trial at various stages throughout the year. Earlier this year his wife Bernadette denied reports he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
On Friday the case took another twist when his lawyers submitted to the court a report from a neurologist saying he was no longer fit to participate in the hearings.
Family members say he suffers from memory lapses. A Sunday paper, le Journal du Dimanche, reported he was suffering from "anosognosia, a brain disorder in which the patient "forgets he forgets". Chirac, in a letter to the court, suggested the trial proceed, without him being present.
Judge Dominique Pauthe is expected to respond to the medical report as soon as the trial resumes at the Palace of Justice in Paris.
His options include demanding another medical opinion, dropping the case altogether or indefinitely postponing it.
Chirac is accused the creation of 28 "ghost jobs" on the payroll of the city of Paris and the nearby town of Nanterre for members of his Rally for the Republic (RPR) party - forerunner to the ruling Union for a Popular Majority (UMP) - while he was mayor of Paris.
The UMP and Chirac reached a settlement with the city of Paris, which saw the city withdraw as a party to the case.
If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros.
He is the first former French president to stand trial.
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