Cairo Criminal Court will start the first session of the trial of the lower-ranking policeman who shot dead a street vendor over the price of a cup of teaon 14 May. The policeman has been charged with unpremeditated deliberate murder. According to investigations conducted by the prosecution, three lower-ranking policemen – the shooter who has been arrested, and his two peers who are still at large – were regular customers of the street vendor spot near the high-middle class residential compound of El-Rehab, where they reportedly always drank tea without paying for it. Investigations indicate that the victim refused to serve the policemen for free earlier in April, causing a verbal dispute that led to one of the policemen – identified as El-Sayed Zeinhom Abdel-Razek – firing shots in the air, and killing one of the street vendors. In February, another low-ranking policeman killed a driver in the working-class Cairo district of El-Darb El-Ahmar following a dispute over a fare. He was sentenced to life in prison. The interior ministry said such incidents are “isolated,” and that they have drafted legislative amendments that would regulate the performance of security services, stressing that they would apply to the entire police force, not only low-ranking policemen. The amendments have been referred to parliament but have not yet been voted on. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/205778.aspx
