Judges at the Ismailia Criminal Court on Wednesday recused themselves from handling the trial of 11 tried in absentia over charges of killing football fans in the worst sports catastrophe in the country’s history.
The prosecution had earlier accused the defendants of premeditated murder and the killing of Ahly Club fans at Port Said Stadium in February 2012 in order to take revenge for previous conflicts, using edged weapons, explosives, stones and other tools to attack the victims.
Investigators say once the match between Ahly and Masry clubs in the premier league ended, the defendants attacked the victims with various weapons and even threw some of them from the grandstands.
In February 2014, a court ordered the retrial for 34 indicted defendants, accepted the appeal submitted by the prosecution against the acquittal of 28 defendants and ordered a retrial for 11 others in absentia.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
