A federal court is facing a raft of thorny legal questions—including what it should tell jurors about the definition of a key word in the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act—on the eve of the trial of a former Alstom SA executive.

Lawyers for Lawrence Hoskins, a former Alstom senior vice president, this week asked a Judge to dismiss charges against their client over delays that they say have violated his constitutional right to a speedy trial. Mr. Hoskins, who was arrested in 2014, is charged with helping organize a scheme to bribe Indonesian government officials to win a $118 million power contract for Alstom.

The latest round of pretrial motions in the case—one of the longest-running FCPA cases currently being litigated—demonstrates the obstacles prosecutors face in bringing charges of bribery that occurred outside the U.S., as well as the obstacles faced by executives in defending themselves against those charges.

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