The Azbakeya Misdemeanor Court, headed by Judge Sherif Kamel, on Monday adjourned the trial of three judges and five other people accused of inciting citizens to storm the High Court, destroy public property and attack public officials.
Clashes erupted on Wednesday outside the downtown Cairo court as protesters hurled stones at the building, smashing its glass front. They also reportedly fought with court employees before some of the protesters’ tents were set on fire by unidentified attackers.
At the end of Monday's session, the judge adjourned the case to 25 June to give the defense lawyers time to view trial documents and to form a list of defense witnesses in the case.
The three judges on trial include Mohamed Morshedi, a former judge at the Kafr al-Sheikh Court, Ahmed al-Shafei, a former judge at the Abdeen Court, and Karim Sayed Ahmed, a prosecutor with the Kafr al-Sheikh prosecution.
One of the defendants denied the charges and described the events he and his colleagues had faced as “a travesty by all measures.” He said he had been dismissed from his job.
A defense lawyer said that his clients had staged a sit-in since 31 November and that they did not provoke any riots. He demanded that the accused be reinstated to their positions.
The lawyer asked how the defendants could be accused of trying to storm the building, given that they had formed a number of popular committees to defend the court. He went on to say that when former President Mubarak was sentenced, the defendants had prevented an attempted attack on the High Court, noting that they are judges and not unemployed people or thugs.
He said the defendants were the first to report Wednesday’s incident, and that masked thugs were behind the attack. The courtroom was packed with relatives who gathered around the defendants’ cage. A verbal altercation broke out between the relatives and photographers after the families refused to allow them to photograph the accused.
“Shame on you, these people are the best people and most honorable judges, and that is why they went to jail — for saying, ‘No, shame on you,’” the wife of one of the accused judges said.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
