Jacques Chirac says not fit to attend own corruption trial

The former French President Jacques Chirac will be absent at his corruption trial on Monday after saying he is unfit to be in court.

He has made a request in a letter to the Paris court for his lawyers to represent him at the trial where he is to deny charges of misappropriating public funds in the 1990s, when he was mayor of Paris. According to the BBC, in the letter, accompanied with a copy of his medical records, the ex French president wrote that he wanted his trial to go on "even if he no longer has the full ability to participate in hearings", a statement from Mr Chirac's lawyers said. "In the letter... he requested that his lawyers be able to represent him and carry his voice during these hearing," the statement added. Jacques Chirac, mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995, is accused of paying members of his Rally for the Republic party for public works that never saw the light of the day.