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Court of cassation acquits Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak

All charges of complicity in the death of demonstrators during the 2011 January revolution were lifted
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak EPA/MOHAMED HOSSAM
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
© EPA/MOHAMED HOSSAM

CAIRO, March 2. /TASS/. Egypt’s Court of Cassation has acquitted the country’s former president, Hosni Mubarak, the state Egyptian television has said. All charges of complicity in the death of demonstrators during the 2011 January revolution were lifted. The ruling is final and irreversible. All criminal prosecution of Mubarak is over.

The Court of Cassation resumed hearings in the second trial of Hosni Mubarak after a several-month interval. Lawyer Farid el-Deeb recalled that the other defendants in the case, including former Interior Minister Habib al-Aldi and six other senior officials of the former regime had been acquitted irreversibly.

"Different trials in various courts have repeatedly proven the police were not responsible for attacks on and killings of demonstrators. The blame was placed on criminal groups backed by the Muslim Brotherhood and the Palestinian movement HAMAS," he told the court.

Previously, Mubarak was sentenced to life in 2012. Later President Mohamed Morsi, who himself is currently involved in a number of criminal cases related with crimes committed by the then Muslim Brotherhood government, ordered retrial.

The Court of Cassation sustained the appeal against the sentence filed by Mubarak’s lawyers. In 2013 the trial was launched again only to end with the lifting of all charges from Mubarak eighteen months later. As a matter of fact, he was acquitted. The prosecutor-general appealed the court’s decision.

In November 2015 the Cassation Court started retrial of the case, which has now resulted in Mubarak’s ultimate acquittal.