Jun. 21, 2013 (TSR) – An Egyptian criminal court decided Thursday to support a previous court ruling to release ex-president Hosni Mubarak over investigations of illicit gains, but the former president will still remain in detention in other charges, official MENA news agency reported.
Cairo Criminal Court declined an appeal by the prosecution against Tuesday’s decision of North Cairo Misdemeanor Court to temporarily release the former president over illicit gains charges.
However, the ex-president will have to stay in custody over other charges, mainly the looting of public funds allocated for the maintenance of presidential palaces.
Attorney General of the High State Security Prosecution Hisham al-Qarmouti told Al Arabiya that Mubarak will remain in custody in what is known as the ‘presidential palaces’ case.
Similarly, in mid-April, a court decided to temporarily release Mubarak over responsibility of killing protesters in the January 2011 upheaval that led to his downfall.
The wealth of Hosni Mubarak, his wife and their two sons, is valued at nine billion Egyptian pounds ($1.2 billion, 900 million euros), the state prosecutor has said, Al Arabiya reported.
A judge who was supposed to hear the case in the Appeals Court resigned this week over “embarrassment.” The case was then referred to the Criminal Court, Al Ahram Online reported.
“He will not be completely released at the moment, as his temporary detention over the case of presidential palaces’ funds will start today,” Mubarak’s lawyers Farid al-Deeb told Xinhua on Thursday.
“Now the release of former Mubarak over the cases of killing protesters and illicit gains is final,” Deeb said.
Mubarak was sentenced to life imprisonment in the case in June 2012 but he appealed the verdict, and the court accepted his appeal and decided for a retrial that started in May. The coming retrial session is scheduled for July 6.
