CAIRO
The defense team of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi said Tuesday that they would demand the replacement of one of the three judges in the Ittihadiya trial case.
"We would not backtrack on our demand to replace judge Ahmed Suleiman, and if the court refuses, we will pursue another scenario," Mohamed al-Damati, the defense team spokesman, told Anadolu Agency.
If the court agreed to the request, al-Damati said, the trial would be adjourned.
Suleiman appeared on television last month and "made an opinion on the case," Morsi's defense team said in an earlier statement.
The judge's television appearance contradicts with the law, and obliges the presiding judges to recuse themselves, the statement added.
Morsi and 14 other defendants – including seven tried in absentia – are charged with inciting the murder of opposition demonstrators during clashes that broke out between Morsi's supporters and opponents outside Ittihadiya presidential palace in 2012.
A total of 11 people, including eight Morsi supporters, were killed in the clashes.
But the case against Morsi and the other defendants only addresses the death of a reporter and two anti-Morsi protesters.
Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, was ousted by the military last July following protests against his one year in office.
He is currently on four different trials on multiple charges, including espionage, jailbreak and offending the judiciary.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
