CAIRO: The trial of Egypt’s ousted President Hosni Mubarak will resume in earnest Tuesday when judges begin hearing arguments from prosecutors, who say Mubarak and his co-defendants are to blame for the deaths of hundreds of protesters.

Lawyers demanded Monday that the head of Egypt’s ruling military council, Field Marshal Mohammad Hussein Tantawi, be summoned back to the court to give fresh testimony. They also asked for Tantawi’s deputy General Sami Anan to give evidence.

Mubarak, his two sons, the former interior minister and senior police officers face charges ranging from corruption to involvement in the deaths of around 850 protesters during the uprising that unseated him last February.

Mubarak is the first leader toppled in a wave of Arab uprisings last year to stand trial in person and the case has drawn worldwide attention.

In a country still grappling with political chaos and an economic crisis almost a year since the popular uprising began, many people believe national renewal will be impossible unless justice is achieved for those killed and their families.

No official has been convicted over the killing of protesters during the 18-day revolt. Mubarak and the other defendants deny any responsibility for the deaths.

The trial was suspended for almost 60 days until last week because some lawyers had demanded the replacement of the panel of judges overseeing the case.

They said they were not given a fair chance to question Tantawi when he stood as a witness in September.

Presiding judge Ahmad Refaat said he would decide on possible new witnesses during the next few sessions.

Mubarak, who is being held under guard at a military hospital near Cairo because doctors say he has a heart condition, was brought into the court on a hospital trolley covering his eyes with sunglasses, which his son Gamal took off once he entered the court.

Lawyers for the dead demanded that Mubarak be transferred to a prison in south Cairo where the other defendants are held because his journey from the military hospital in a helicopter cost the state 500,000 Egyptian pounds ($82,000) each time.

The trial resumes amidst speculation that a recent acquittal of policemen tried in the killings of protesters could be a prelude to the dismissal of charges against the ousted Egyptian leader.

Another Cairo court Thursday acquitted five policemen of charges of killing five protesters in the capital’s El-Sayedah Zeinab district during the Jan. 25-Feb. 11 uprising. The court said that three of the defendants were not at the site of the killings at the time while the other two fired on protesters in self defense.

The ruling angered families of the victims. Activists demanded that the killers be brought to justice and complained that similar cases are languishing in courts in several Egyptian cities.

The acquittal of the police officers in El-Sayedah Zeinab and the relatively long time the Mubarak trial is taking before even starting to deal with the core of the charges against him have led many activists to brand the proceedings a farce, organized by the generals who took over power when the longtime leader was ousted.