The trial of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak resumed today after a delay of almost two months while lawyers demanded a new judge.
Many Egyptians hope the trial will heal some of the scars of his autocratic rule and help the country find stability after nearly a year of political turmoil under the military generals who replaced him in power.
Mr Mubarak, his two sons, the former interior minister and senior police officers face charges ranging from corruption to involvement in the deaths of hundreds of protesters in the uprising that unseated him.
The multitude of witnesses and the complexity of the charges against him mean the case could drag on for months, perhaps years.
The former leader, who is being held under guard at a military hospital near Cairo as doctors say he has a heart condition, was brought into the court on a hospital trolley, covering his eyes with his arm and surrounded by police.
Previous sessions were marred by clashes outside the Cairo court building between Mr Mubarak's supporters and Egyptians demanding the death penalty for him, but there were no scuffles as Mr Mubarak arrived today.
He was widely believed to be grooming his son Gamal to succeed him but any such plan was overturned when disgust at poverty, corruption and the brutality of Egypt's security forces boiled over and millions took to the streets in January.
Some 850 people were killed in the 18-day uprising that overthrew him, with the police accused of shooting live rounds at unarmed demonstrators, with much of the trial centring on who gave the order to open fire.
The sight in August of Mr Mubarak, the man who ruled the Arab world's most populous nation for three decades, appearing behind bars in a Cairo courtroom on charges that could bring the death penalty was one of the defining moments of the Arab Spring.
Later that month the presiding judge Ahmed Refaat ordered television cameras out of the courtroom until the case concludes, ensuring key testimony by top officials took place beyond public view.
Lawyers representing families of those killed filed a suit in September calling for Mr Refaat and the two other judges to be replaced.
They had complained that the judges had failed to give them enough time to question Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who heads the army council now ruling Egypt, during his court appearance. Their request was rejected.
"The court has responded to all the defendants' lawyers requests," said lawyer Khaled Abu Bakr, who represents families of people who died in the uprising. "Egypt has guaranteed for Mubarak a very fair trial, the judge has ensured that all the basics of justice are there ... no one should object the final verdict"
Reuters