A German court announced on Tuesday that it had halted the Dieselgate trial due to former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn’s poor health.
The Braunschweig court said in a statement that Winterkorn, who was treated in hospital after an accident at home last month, “will not be able to attend court hearings for at least the next few months due to health reasons.”
The court suspended the trial and “revoked all further dates.”
The court said the trial could not be resumed within the legally prescribed period.
The court said it was looking to reopen in the first half of 2025.
Winterkorn went on trial in early September over the Volkswagen scandal, nine years after the revelations plunged Volkswagen into crisis.
The 77-year-old man has health problems and previous attempts to bring him to trial had been postponed.
According to German newspaper Bild, Winterkorn recently slipped in the shower and broke his right leg.
Volkswagen admitted in 2015 that it had installed software that tampered with emissions levels in millions of diesel cars around the world, triggering one of Germany’s biggest post-war industrial scandals.
Winterkorn is accused of fraud and market manipulation over so-called Defeat devices, which in lab tests make cars appear less polluted than they are on the road. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
Mr. Winterkorn denies the allegations.
