An Egyptian appeals court today set June 4 as the verdict date on a prosecution’s plea against dropping murder charges against ex-president Hosni Mubarak over killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his 30-year rule.
The Court of Cassation met to examine the prosecution appeal and announced that the decision will be given on June 4.
87-year-old Mubarak and his seven former security commanders, including former interior minister Habib al-Adly, were acquitted in November last year by a lower court, of the charges of killing the unarmed anti-government protesters.
The prosecution later filed an appeal against that verdict.
In 2012, Mubarak was sentenced to 25 years in jail but the verdict was successfully appealed in January, 2013 as the presiding judge ruled that there was not enough evidence presented by the prosecution.
The prosecutor general started appeal procedures last December.
The former autocrat and his sons are also waiting for the final verdict in graft case. The verdict is set to be announced on May 9.
Mubarak and his sons Gamal and Alaa are charged with acquiring about USD 17.9 million from the presidential palace budget and using the money for the construction and development of family-owned assets.
They are also charged with forging official documents and willfully damaging public property.
Last May, Mubarak was given a three-year prison sentence and his sons Alaa and Gamal Mubarak were given four years each.
Collectively, they were fined USD 2.96 million and are required to repay USD 17.9 million. The court had accepted Mubarak’s appeal on his 3-year jail sentence for graft last January.
The Cassation court, then, cancelled the verdict and ordered a retrial. Mubarak’s sons were also released from prison pending trials.
