Manama: A court in Kuwait on Wednesday postponed to April 10 the trial of 70 Kuwaitis on charges of storming the parliament building.
The defendants, including nine former lawmakers, were acquitted by a court of the charges in December, but the verdict was challenged by the public prosecutor who asked for a new trial.
The case has been in the court for almost two years and the acquittal verdict was welcomed with great relief in the country.
Charges included breaking the laws, illegal assembly, disobeying police orders, resisting arrest, assaulting public order officers and parliament security servicemen and damaging property.
The case was filed after dozens of people forced their way into the parliament’s debating chamber in the capital Kuwait City on November 16, 2011 while hundreds of people protested outside to call for the resignation of the government, then chaired by Shaikh Nasser Al Mohammad Al Ahmad Al Sabah.
The nation was subsequently divided over the merit of the unprecedented storming as several people pushed for stringent legal action against protesters while others defended it as “acceptable street pressure.”
The suspects denied that they forced their way in and insisted that the doors were open when they reached the building after being re-routed by security servicemen.
The protesters had planned to head to the prime minister’s residence, but after they were prevented from continuing their way, they opted to go to the parliament.
Shaikh Nasser resigned two weeks after the unprecedented incident and a new government was formed. Afterwards, the Emir, Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, dissolved the parliament and called fresh polls.
