The first trial session for 67 defendants in the case of the assassination of former prosecutor-general Hisham Barakat will take place on 14 June, according to state media, which referred to the defendants as “members of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood organisation”.
The defendants were earlier referred to criminal court on charges of first-degree murder and plotting to target state officials.
Barakat was assassinated on 29 June 2015 in an attack that targeted his motorcade. He died shortly after he was transferred to the hospital.
The attack was first claimed by the Giza Popular Resistance militant group on their Facebook page, though the claim was later revoked. Two months later, a group calling itself Tahrir Brigades—which has no known record of activity—claimed responsibility for the assassination of Barakat. No evidence for either claim was provided.
Judge Nabil Sadeq was appointed by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi as Egypt’s new prosecutor-general in September 2015.
A media gag has been imposed on the investigations into the case of the assassination.
