CAIRO, April 22 (RAPSI, Rafael Daminov) – A Cairo court has supported the prosecutor general’s appeal against a lower court decision to release former President Hosni Mubarak, who is accused of corruption.

The Appeals Court ruled to release Mubarak on April 20, but Prosecutor General Talaat Abdallah appealed the decision. On April 15, the Egyptian court decided to release Mubarak, who is in detention on charges of killing protesters during the protests in January 2011.  The court issued the ruling because the duration of the pretrial detention has expired.  However, Mubarak was not released as he faced other charges. 

His attorneys have appealed the Prosecutor General’s Office’s decision.

The new charges against Mubarak and his two sons concern the embezzlement of over 1 billion Egyptian pounds (over $150 million) in government funds.  According to the investigators, they took part in a corrupt scheme to embezzle the funds allocated for the renovation and reconstruction of presidential palaces. Fake documents were sent to the auditing authorities, while Mubarak and his family used the embezzled funds to buy or to build new properties.

Earlier, media reported that the Appeals Court in Cairo has scheduled the retrial of the case involving the murder of protesters on May 11. The prosecutor general said the court may issue a harsher sentence after taking into account newly discovered facts.

Mubarak and former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly were sentenced to life in prison on June 2 for issuing an order to use ball cartridges against peaceful protesters during the 2011 revolution.