Libyan Spy Chief Abuzeid Omar Dorda Faces Murder Charges

By Daniel Tovrov | June 05 2012 4:26 PM

Confined to a cage in a Tripoli courtroom on Tuesday, former Libyan spy chief Abuzeid Omar Dorda listened as a Supreme Court judge read out the six charges of murder against him.

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Dorda, 68, is the first former Gadhafi regime official to start trial over his role in last year's revolution. He was arrested in September 2011 in the penultimate month of the uprising, and his case is being seen as a test of the country's new judicial system, which was overhauled after the death of former dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Dorda pled not-guilty to charges of mobilizing security forces to fire bullets at the heads and chests of civilians and preventing, through the use of force and intimidation, the staging of peaceful protests, as well as arming a militia in the Nafousa Mountains, according to the BBC. His trial has been adjourned until June 26.