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Court begins inquiry in Hisham Geneina's trial Geneina criticised the judicial power in a TV interview in November 2014 and faces charges of defaming it
The Court of Cassation began its inquiry Tuesday in the trial of Director of the Central Auditing Organisation (CAO) Hisham Geneina, who is charged with defaming judicial power. The charges stem from a TV interview published in November 2014 with Dream Channel when Geneina accused the judiciary of issuing judgments that do not adhere to any legal statute or precedent. "Unfortunately some judges nowadays charge you with issuing a report or incitation for publishing some information, when the law states nothing similar to this," he said at the time. "Such charges might be acceptable from the public, but when it comes from a judge it only reflects the deterioration of the judicial power." Upon being summoned to the court for inquiry, TV host Wael Al-Ebrashy denied responsibility for Geneina's statement. "He is responsible for what he said and I only interviewed him in his capacity as an official to discuss issues related to corruption," Al-Ebrashy said. After Geneina commented on the state of the judiciary in Egypt, the head of judges club Ahmed Al-Zend filed a lawsuit against Geneina charging him with distorting the reputation of the judicial power. Geneina is also facing similar charges in another trial following a press interview, which the Court of Cassation judge will inquire into next Sunday. The trial is linked with an interview with Al-Tahrir newspaper published in mid-August 2015, where Geneina accused the Justice Minister of interfering in judicial verdicts and accused him of embezzlement. Moreover, Geneina has recently come under fire for his claims that over EGP 600bn of state funds have been lost due to corruption. A committee formed by the presidency to inspect the veracity of Geneina's claims recently issued a report slamming Geneina's claims.
