Egyptian court shelves trial against 'unknown' for Maspero massacre of Copts
Cairo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Egyptian court has closed the trial -
against "persons unknown" - for the Maspero massacre of October 9
last, which killed 27 Coptic Christians, and left over 320 were, for "lack
of evidence. " The
ruling came on April 24, when judges appointed by the Ministry of Justice decided
to close the proceedings; explaining the verdict Sarwat Hammad claimed a "lack of identification of the
culprits", who
killed the army conscript Mohammad Shata and nine protesters (all Coptic Christians) with ammunition, as well as
attempting to break into a government building and assaulting military
personnel.
The
judges have also dropped charges against 28 Copts and the Muslim activist Alaa
Abdel-Fatah, arrested earlier, though in this case for lack of evidence. Many
of those arrested were detained after the massacre of October 9, some of whom
were not present at the time of the tragedy but were indentified and taken only
because "Christians".
The
paradox is that, according to the Egyptian judiciary, Christians shot and killed
their brethren. The
pictures released on the Internet in the aftermath of the tragedy clearly indicated
the apparent involvement of the army, who opened fire on peaceful
demonstrators, and even drove their vehicles into people in the square (see
AsiaNews 12/10/2011 Egypt
under shock by brutal anti-Coptic attack as calls for the govt to resign mount).
Commenting
on the decision of the judges, the attorney Said Fayez sarcastically noted to news
agency AINA: "I am happy that we were able to prove the innocence of the Coptic
defendants of killing their Coptic brothers. ". He
adds that the rights of victims and family members were denied by a failing court
system. Even
more harsh words for Vivian Magdi, girlfriend of Michael Mosad, killed during
the protest by a military vehicle that hit and crushed him. "Dropping the case against an unknown
is farce." She has stated from the start that the Maspero case has to be
taken to an international court "because in Egypt we were unable to get
justice for those who were martyred."
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