The Cairo Criminal Court adjourned Saturday the retrial of former president Hosni Mubarak and his sons in the Presidential Palace case to 29 April. The late April session will witness the general prosecution resuming its argument and the lawyers to delivering their defence and providing the court with documents, state media reported. Ousted president Hosni Mubarak was tried in the case, along with his two sons, for embezzling almost EGP 126m from state funds. The court sentenced Mubarak in May to three years in a maximum security prison, and his sons Alaa and Gamal to four years each. The court also fined the three EGP 125m collectively, in addition to repaying EGP 21m. Mubarak and his sons are charged with acquiring almost EGP 126m from the Presidential Palace budget, and using the money for the construction and development of family-owned assets. The Court of Cassation had ordered a retrial of the case in January, a decision that was followed by the release of Mubarak's sons in the same month. This, however, was pending re-trial as the defendants had served the maximum pre-trial detention period. After his ouster in February 2011, Mubarak and his sons were taken into custody in April 2011 on several charges. On 29 November 2014, the Cairo Criminal Court dropped the highest profile of cases against Mubarak, the killing of protesters, and acquitted him of graft charges.
