[JURIST] Saddam Hussein's top lawyer said Sunday the former Iraqi president's defense team will not attend his genocide trial [JURIST news archive] when it resumes Monday in protest at the new chief judge's behavior, and will stay away "indefinitely," according to statements quoted by AP. The original judge was replaced [JURIST report] last week by the government after he said in court Hussein was not a dictator [JURIST report].

Hussein's lawyers walked out of last Wednesday's hearing in protest of the new judge, Muhammed al-Ureybi, who then threw Hussein out of court [JURIST report] for protesting and continued the trial with court-appointed lawyers. Hussein's chief lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, said: "The court committed several violations of the law and we will not just sit there gagged to give it legitimacy." Hussein is being tried for his role in the deaths of 180,000 Kurds [JURIST report], mostly civilians, in the 1980s. Reuters has more. AP has additional coverage.