Trial of former top Saddam aide Tareq Aziz starts

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz, the public face of Saddam Hussein's regime, went on trial on Tuesday over the execution of dozens of merchants accused of breaking state price controls in 1992.

A Reuters reporter saw Aziz, looking frail and weak in a brown suit and using a walking stick, enter the courtroom with six other defendants when Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman opened the tribunal. He is reported to have been in poor health.

It was the first time the 72-year-old Aziz, who also served as foreign minister under Saddam, has answered any charges since he gave himself up to U.S. troops in April 2003, just two weeks after the former Iraqi leader's rule ended.

After its first day, the trial was adjourned until May 20.

The merchants were accused of increasing prices of vital goods in breach of state price controls when Iraq was under U.N. sanctions imposed for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Aziz's lawyer, Badie Arif, called the charges against his client a "farce".

"Keeping him in the prison for 5 years has embarrassed the government. There is international pressure ... and so they had to present him as a defendant," said Arif. "Legally, there's no case, but we can't predict how politics will influence it."

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The only Christian in Saddam's inner circle, Aziz rose to prominence in the world media around the time of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the 1991 Gulf War.

Easily recognized by his large spectacles and white hair, Aziz played Iraq's top diplomatic role in the run-up to the Gulf War when he was foreign minister, exhibiting faultless English, strong nerves and negotiating skills.

Other defendants included Saddam's half brothers Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan, interior minister when the executions occurred, and Sabaawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, a former top security official, court spokesman Aref Shaheen said.

A former finance minister, central bank governor and two senior Ba'ath party members also faced the Iraqi High Tribunal.

Another defendant was Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majeed. He was sentenced to death in June for his role in Saddam's "Anfal" military campaign in the 1980s, in which tens of thousands of Kurds were killed.

Legal arguments have so far held up the execution of Majeed, called "Chemical Ali" by Saddam's opponents for his role in using of poison gas to kill Kurdish villagers.

The tribunal was set up to try former members of Saddam's government. Saddam was executed in December 2006 after being convicted of crimes against humanity for the killing of 148 Shi'ite men and boys after a 1982 assassination attempt.

Aziz has appeared as a witness in earlier trials of Saddam era officials.

He is a Chaldean Christian, Iraq's biggest Christian group, and his presence in Saddam's government was often held up as evidence of the former Iraqi leader's religious tolerance.

Aziz featured prominently in Iraq's conflict with Iran from 1980-1988, helping to win U.S. support and to forge strong economic ties with the Soviet Union.

(Writing by Tim Cocks, editing by Ralph Gowling)