Philippines: Estrada to face trial
Former President Joseph Estrada will become the first Philippines leader to face trial when he goes before a judge on Monday charged with plundering the economy - an offence that carries a maximum penalty of death.
Some 50,000 of Estrada’s supporters staged a bloody attempt to storm the presidential palace in Manila on May 1, but much of the emotion that surrounded his downfall in January and eventual arrest has cooled during months of routine court hearings preceding the trial.
In a further attempt to calm the country, the Supreme Court has banned live TV coverage of the trial, which could take a year or longer.
Estrada’s bitterly-fought impeachment trial in Congress riveted millions of Filipinos for weeks until the proceedings ground to a halt just before popular protests forced his ousting.
