Manama: A lawyer for some of the 25 defendants being tried on charges of plotting to destabilise Bahrain on Thursday filed for moving the case to the constitutional court.

Abdul Rahman Ghunaim is hoping that the court would put an end to the weeks-long stalling of the case that saw several lawyers withdraw their services.

The court accepted the request and postponed the case to January 27.

According to the court documents, the suspects, 23 under arrest in Bahrain and two being tried in absentia, allegedly formed or belonged to an illegal group that sought to undermine stability in Bahrain.

The arrests were made in August and the first court session was held in October. However, the team of lawyers chosen by the suspects withdrew from the case, citing the refusal of the court to consider claims of torture. A second team was appointed by the justice ministry in line with the Bahraini law that requires the presence of lawyers in all court cases.

However, 19 lawyers withdrew after the suspects refused to cooperate with them, prompting the ministry to announce that it would take disciplinary action against them for refusing to comply with the regulations. A second team of lawyers were appointed by the ministry for last week' trial, but the issue waded into further controversy after the suspects refused them and five lawyers said that they would not take up the case.

On Thursday, one more lawyer withdrew and in a bid to find a final solution, Ghunaim suggested the opinion of the constitutional court for a solution.

Several of the lawyers were accused of politicising the issue by taking political stances on a legal case, but they rejected the charges as baseless and untrue.

On Wednesday, Ali Bin Fadl Al Buainain, Bahrain's attorney general, said that 102,255 files were handled by the prosecution service last year, up from 79,649 in 2009.

Of these cases, almost half (48,482) were connected to traffic violations, 6,745 to robberies, 1,119 to drugs and 71 to prostitution.

As a result of the 28 per cent increase, 20 new recruits will this year join the Public Prosecution.