The trial of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein resumed in open session today after a three-hour delay with only three defendants present in the court and none of the defence team.
The judge said the other five co-defendants, including Saddam Hussein, refused to turn up but he is going to proceed with the trial in any case.
According to court rules, the remaining defendants will be tried in absentia.
Earlier, proceedings were delayed because of 'procedural issues'.
The former Iraq leader's chief counsel, Khalil al-Dulaimi, said that the defence team would boycott all sessions until the new chief judge, Raouf Abdel Rahman, resigned.
He said the judge, who is a Kurd, was biased and that the US-sponsored court was illegitimate.
The trial collapsed into chaos moments after resuming on Sunday, when Saddam Hussein and his defence team stormed out and guards dragged his half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti from the courtroom after he refused to keep quiet.
The trial has been marred by delays since getting under way last October.
Two members of the defence team have been murdered, chief judge Rizgar Amin resigned complaining of political interference, and his original replacement was shifted aside after being accused of belonging to the Baath party.
Saddam Hussein and seven co-accused are charged with killing 148 men from the Shi'ite town of Dujail after a bid to assassinate him there in 1982.
The trial was adjourned until tomorrow, after testimony was heard from five prosecution witnesses, among them a woman who testified that she was arrested by Saddam Hussein's security forces and tortured in prison.
