PARIS, Oct. 26 (JTA) – The trial of former Vichy official Maurice Papon was temporarily halted Oct. 23 after he was hospitalized with bronchitis. Papon’s trial for crimes against humanity was slated to resume this week only if he was well enough to appear in court. Papon went on trial Oct. 8 in the southwestern French city of Bordeaux for allegedly ordering the arrest and deportation of 1,560 Jews during World War II. The proceedings are expected to last until Dec. 23. U.S. historian Robert Paxton, one of several scholars of the period who will speak at the trial, was scheduled to testify this week about the Vichy administration’s cooperation with the Nazi occupiers. Papon, who is 87 and underwent triple bypass surgery last year, has already been hospitalized twice during the trial. After feeling ill on the trial’s second day, he spent one night in a nearby hospital.
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