The Cairo Criminal Court on Tuesday exonerated three police officers from Hadayek al-Kobba Police Department on charges of murdering protesters on 28 January 2011, the most intense day of clashes between anti-government demonstrators and security forces during the uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.
The court has also issued a one-year suspended prison sentence for 11 other officers, according to a report from state-owned news agency MENA.
MENA said the prosecutors demanded the severest penalty for the defendants. But their defense lawyers said documents from the Cairo police investigation services proved they had not been present at the crime scene, a claim they said was supported by testimonies of their fellow officers.
The defense lawyers also argued that the police officers could not have seen the protesters at the time, because it was after 6 pm and dark, MENA reported. They also noted that on 28 January, mobile phone services were cut, which would negate the accusations that the defendants colluded.
Officers from the Salam and Sayeda Zeinab police departments were previously acquitted of the same charges. In those decisions, the courts decreed that they were legally defending their workplaces against attack.
Earlier in March, the Damietta Criminal Court adjourned the trial of accused police officers there to May.
Also on Tuesday, the Alexandria Criminal Court decided to postpone the trial of the former Alexandria and Beheira police chiefs, heads of local Central Security Forces and 11 policemen accused of killing protesters on 28 January, according to a separate MENA report.
During the court session, the plaintiffs' lawyers complained that a large number of Central Security Forces were obscuring the view of suspects being held in a large cage.
The judge decided to postpone the case until Wednesday, saying the court couldn't complete a review of CDs allegedly showing police killing and injuring protesters since the victims' relatives were weeping, shouting and trying to approach the cage.
The plaintiffs' lawyers had filed a lawsuit accusing the suspects of killing 96 people and wounded 490 others on what has come to be known as the "Day of Anger." The court has been reviewing the case since last April, after the attorney general referred the accused to the Alexandria court.
According to MENA, investigations had revealed that former Alexandria security chief Major General Mohamed Ibrahim and former Alexandria Central Security Forces chief Major General Adel Taha were involved in the killing and injuring of several protesters.
More than 800 protesters were killed during the wide-scale demonstrations against Mubarak’s rule early last year, many of whom were killed on front of police stations.
