The second court session scheduled to hear the witnesses in the commission retrial over the death of Salman Al-Huraisi was cancelled as two of the three judges assigned to rule in the case were enjoying their vacation Tuesday. The court was scheduled to hear a police officer and an agent of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Riyadh. “I was surprised to go to court for the session only to be told it was cancelled because two of the judges were on vacation,” said the lawyer of the victim's family. No date has been set for a new session, he said. The lawyer of two commission's agents involved in the case was not available to comment. Last week, eight agents of the Commission changed their old statements in the case during the first court hearing of the retrial for allegedly falling under pressure during investigation. Abdul Wahab Al-Sudairi, Director General of the Investigation and Prosecution Authority, denied the allegation saying no illegal methods or pressure were used to obtain statements from the agents during investigation. Two agents of the Commission allegedly beat Salman Al-Huraisi to death when they raided his house on suspicions of alcohol dealing last year. A lower court found the commission's agents “not guilty”, but the Cassation Court ordered retrial two weeks ago for finding faulty processing in the first trial, including the judges' failure to hear the eyewitnesses. – Okaz __
