Former Libyan foreign intelligence chief Bozeid Dorda looks on before the first hearing of his trial, inside a courthouse in Tripoli yesterday

The first trial of a senior Muammar Gaddafi-era official accused of crimes relating to last year’s war opened yesterday. Under heavy security, Buzeid Dorda, a former intelligence chief arrested last September in Tripoli, appeared in the dock in the first such civilian hearing since last year’s uprising. Judge Al-Ajaily Al-Maaloul read six charges against him - conspiring to kill civilians, providing weapons for the purpose of killing civilians, conspiring to provoke civil war, denying people their right to protest, unlawful detention and abuse of authority. “I deny all these points. I will supply the evidence when I testify in court,” Dorda said. The judge adjourned the trial until June 26.