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France's ex-president Sarkozy
Photo: GONZALO FUENTES / REUTERS
France's ex-head of state Nicolas Sarkozy is said to have illegally financed the campaign for his re-election in 2012.
The 66-year-old is charged because of this, but denies the allegations.
It will take some time before he can convince the judges of his innocence.
The court in Paris approved another defendant's motion to move, and the trial was postponed to May 20, according to the AFP news agency.
Sarkozy faces imprisonment in the trial.
The ex-president did not appear in court on Wednesday.
The request for postponement came from the lawyer of the former vice-election campaign manager Jérôme Lavrilleux.
Lavrilleux was being treated in hospital for a Covid 19 disease, it said.
However, the defendant sent word that he wanted a quick start.
"I await this process to answer you (...)," he said.
Sarkozy already convicted in another case
Sarkozy was sentenced to three years imprisonment, two of which were suspended, at the beginning of the month for another affair for bribery and illicit influence.
No president of the "Fifth Republic" of France, founded in 1958, has so far been punished so severely.
The former president had announced that he would appeal and is considering bringing an action to the European Court of Human Rights.
Sarkozy has turned his back on politics, but is still considered influential.
The conservative, who ruled in the Élysée Palace from 2007 to 2012, faces a prison sentence of one year and a fine of 3750 euros in the new trial.
The negotiations are expected to last around a month.
In addition to Sarkozy, there are 13 other defendants.
The other 13 defendants have to answer for fraud or aiding and abetting.
Sarkozy's former UMP party, now renamed Republican, is said to have not accounted for campaign expenses as such.
For this purpose, there should have been a system of fictitious invoices.
Campaign spending was apparently twice as high as allowed
At that time, the permitted upper limit for expenditure was 22.5 million euros.
In fact, at least 42.8 million euros are said to have been spent.
The event company Bygmalion alone is said to have issued the party with bills totaling 18.5 million euros.
That is why the case in France is known as the "Bygmalion Affair".
Sarkozy is reportedly not accused of creating the fictitious invoicing system - but he is alleged to have ignored two warnings from accountants.
The Conservative lost to his socialist challenger François Hollande in 2012.
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fek / dpa / AFP