Unlike the previous day’s circus, the makeshift courtroom at the Police Academy in Cairo was relatively calm Thursday, as former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and six of his aides were led into the courtroom to face charges of murdering protesters during the 18-day uprising that lead to President Hosni Mubarak’s downfall. Adly has already been found guilty of money-laundering and corruption charges, and sentenced to 17 years in prison at a separate trial.

Twenty minutes after the accused were seated in the dock, Judge Ahmed Refaat entered the courtroom. Refaat called out the names of the defendants, pausing midway to admonish a cameraman who kept “getting in the way.” Other than responding to his name being called, and one visible instance when he whispered to the former assistants seated behind him, Adly remained silent, and mostly expressionless, during the proceedings.

Following the roll call, there was a brief period of confused shuffling and side conversations before Refaat called for order.

“There’s no reason to be wandering around the courtroom,” the judge scolded those present, specifically the members of the individual defense teams huddled in front of him. “You’re lawyers, supposedly. Act like it.”

The defense lawyers took turns presenting various complaints to the judge, the most common being against the separation of Adly's trial from that of the Mubaraks, which adjourned yesterday until 15 August. Adly’s lawyer, Essam Mohamed al-Batawy, argued that the verdict from one trial might unjustly affect the other, while also hinting that separating Adly’s case would make it easier to turn him into a scapegoat.

Refaat said the separation of the trials was “a court decision, and a matter that should be left to the courts.”

The session proceeded slowly, with Refaat going through and announcing the contents of several cardboard boxes, plastic bags and envelopes of evidence. Over the course of an hour, Refaat screened the evidence, often struggling to tear through the clumsily wrapped Dasani water boxes used to hold the documents.

The first four boxes contained files pertaining to Central Security Forces, particularly the orders they received and carried out during the uprising, as well as details of the weapons and ammunition they allegedly used. Other files contained documents on the security forces’ “special weapons” and details of the weapon rooms in the agency’s headquarters.

Adly and his assistants often looked bored, yawning widely and fidgeting on their benches.
 
Another piece of evidence was a shipping envelope which, Refaat announced as he waved it around, contained “a jacket and beige pants, marked by bullet holes.” The clothes had been presented to the court by the families of the martyr who had died in them.

More folders from Central Security offices followed, before Refaat unwrapped a box containing 71 spent ammunition cartridges “of different sizes and colors," Refaat said. This caused a minor stir among the defense lawyers, one of whom requested that the court supply the codes on the sides of the cartridges in order to determine “from which location these bullets had been fired.”

More bullet-ridden clothing was searched through before the final bundle of evidence was unwrapped to reveal four rifles, allegedly used by State Security Investigation Services officers to kill and injure protesters. The rifles, Refaat declared, had been presented to the court by the family of Ahmed Abdel Rahman Ahmed, one of the revolution’s martyrs.

Refaat brandished the rifles, still mostly wrapped in newspaper, for all to see, before handing them back to his assistant, who propped them up against the wall.

All the evidence, Refaat announced once the screening process was over, would be made available to the defense committee, as well as “a sufficient amount of time for them to review the documents in their entirety.” Refaat also stipulated that only one lawyer per defendant would be allowed to review the evidence, and that further details would be announced following deliberation.

After an hour of deliberation, the session resumed and Refaat returned, beginning the session by stating, “We will announce our decision before the defense committee has a chance to sit down without being told to do so.”

The lawyers then began shouting, and Refaat provoked them further, asking, “Who should I listen to? I’ll listen to whoever is the loudest.”

Order was restored a few minutes later, and Refaat announced that, based on the defense team's request for additional time to “complete their files and locate missing documents,” the trial would adjourn until 14 August, one day before the Mubaraks' trial is scheduled to reconvene.

Refaat also said the evidence screened would be on display for the defense teams and public prosecutors to examine and photograph at the Supreme Judicial Court from Saturday 6 August until the following Thursday, during regular working hours. Furthermore, Refaat added, those involved in the case would be given a CD containing “all case-related documents.”

Following Refaat’s statement, the court adjourned and the judge promptly left the room, ignoring the eruption of complaints and inquiries from the defense team.