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In court, defiant Mursi says he still Egypt's

04 November 2013 19:10 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Ousted Egyptian leader Mohamed Mursi struck a defiant tone on the first day of his trial on Monday, chanting 'Down with military rule', and calling himself the country's only 'legitimate' president, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Mursi, an Islamist who was toppled by the army in July after mass protests against him, appeared angry and interrupted the session repeatedly, prompting a judge eventually to adjourn the trial, which barely got underway, to January 8.

Opponents of Egypt's army-backed government say the trial is part of a campaign to crush Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood movement and revive a police state reminiscent of Hosni Mubarak's three- decades of autocratic rule that ended in a 2011 popular revolt.

Mursi, 62, who spent time in Mubarak's jails before becoming Egypt's first freely elected president after the country's "Arab Spring" revolution, found himself behind bars again this year facing charges of inciting violence that could carry the death penalty.

It is the second time in just over two years that an overthrown president has been in court in Egypt. The trial is taking place in the same venue where Mubarak has also been facing a retrial for complicity in killing protesters.

State television aired brief footage of Mursi, the first public sighting of the president since his overthrow.

After stepping out of a white van and buttoning his jacket, he appeared in a cage in a court set up in a sprawling police academy beside other Islamist defendants, who were in white prison garb. They applauded when Mursi arrived, gave the Brotherhood's four-fingered salute, and at times turned their backs on the court.

"This trial is illegitimate," said Mursi, who was dressed in a dark suit and who state media said had refused to wear prison clothes. "This is a criminal military coup."

Mursi had travelled to the heavily guarded courthouse from an undisclosed location by helicopter.

Hundreds of his supporters gathered outside the court building. One sign read "The will of the people has been raped", a reference to the army takeover.

The now-banned Muslim Brotherhood has said it will not abandon the street protests it has staged to pressure the army to reinstate Mursi.