The Giza Criminal Court sentenced on Saturday five defendants to 10 years in prison in the case dubbed “Cabinet clashes” of 2011.
The court also ordered the defendants to pay EGP 17.6 million in compensation for vandalism. One of the defendants was sentenced to five years in prison.
The defendants were accused of possessing weapons and drugs and committing acts of vandalism by setting public and private properties on fire and rioting in the premises of state facilities.
In December 2011, security forces dispersed a three-week sit-in at the cabinet building, which resulted in clashes in the area surrounding the Cabinet and Shura Council and led to burning the Scientific Institute. Some 269 defendants were implicated in the case.
According to the probe, the defendants gathered outside the cabinet building, violating public security and peace, resisted the authorities by using force and violence to prevent them from securing and protecting government facilities, deliberately burned and destroyed government buildings and installations and destroyed, stormed, vandalized and destructed public and private property.
In this context, the same court decided to postpone the retrial proceedings of four defendants in the case of burning Kafr Hakim Church in the Kerdasa region in Giza, to November 10 hearing session.
Defendants, in this case, were accused of being involved in a church burning in 2013 in conjunction with the killing of 11 officers and soldiers, including the Sheriff of Kerdasa Center.
The prosecution accused the defendants of joining an illegal group, the Muslim Brotherhood which is officially classified as a terrorist organization.
They were also accused of possessing unlicensed firearms and ammunition, deliberately setting fire to a church and looting it, blocking the road and disturbing the public order and resisting authorities.
