Deposed dictator Moammar Gadhafi's foreign spy chief, Buzeid Dorda, went on trial Tuesday
Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Deposed dictator Moammar Gadhafi's foreign spy chief went on trial Tuesday, the first former regime official to be put before prosecutors in post-revolutionary Libya.
Looking resigned to his fate and sounding hoarse when he spoke, Buzeid Dorda denied charges including responsibility for the killing of protesters.
"I not only deny the charges, I am saying they are made up and they are the opposite of what I did," he said.
Dorda is also charged with trying to use his tribesmen to take action against the country, abusing his position to deny people their rights and using his authority to suppress the people.
He appeared in a blue jumpsuit and carried crutches as two security officers assisted him into court, where he sat behind a wire mesh. He was not cuffed or otherwise restrained.
The former intelligence chief stood as the charges were read, holding the wire mesh for support, and asked if he could respond to each accusation in turn.
His lawyer objected, saying that it was the first time Dorda was hearing the charges. The lawyer asked for an adjournment of a month to prepare his case.
Prosecutors countered that Dorda had been told the charges when his detention was extended.
Judges retired to deliberate, then announced the trial would continue on June 26.
Libyan ex-spy chief Dorda charged over protester deaths
Abu Zeid Omar Dorda is also charged with arming his ethnic group
The first senior official from the former Libyan regime has been charged in court in connection with the conflict that toppled Muammar Gaddafi.
He denied all six charges, which included ordering the fatal shooting of protesters last year.
The case has been adjourned until 26 June as his lawyer asked for more time to review the case.
Mr Dorda was arrested in September 2011, the month before Col Gaddafi was killed.
The BBC's Rana Jawad in the capital, Tripoli, says his trial is seen as a test case for Libya's judiciary and its capacity to deal with high-profile cases.
'Steadfast supporter'
Mr Dorda is charged with "mobilising security forces to fire bullets at the heads and chests of civilians" and "preventing, through the use of force and intimidation, the staging of peaceful protests", the Libya's state-run news agency Wal reports.
He is also charged with arming his ethnic group with the purpose of inciting civil strife during Libya's seven-month rebellion last year.
Mr Dorda arrived in court wearing a blue prison uniform - looking slightly weary and using crutches to walk, our correspondent says.
His doctor told the BBC the former head of foreign intelligence was recovering from a broken hip.
His younger brother, Abdullah, was in the court house and told the BBC that he was confident of his brother's innocence, adding that the family was coping with a stressful situation.
"All these things they're saying about him are not true... my brother is one of the Libyan people who looks out for his country, for its people and its safety," he said.
Defence lawyer, Daw al-Mansouri, told reporters that he had faith that his client would receive a fair trial.
Mr Dorda, 68, once served as Libya's prime minister and as an envoy to the UN.
He took over as external intelligence chief in 2009 from Moussa Koussa, the foreign minister who defected in March 2011 from the regime and fled Libya, initially to the UK.
Mr Dorda was one of Gaddafi's most loyal supporters - even calling in to state TV in April last year to deny reports that he was defecting.
"It is impossible for Abu Zeid Dorda to think, not only when awake but even when dreaming, of leaving Libya or the Libyan people or the revolution, or betraying its leader Muammar al-Gaddafi," he said.
"I am in Libya and am going to stay in it, and I am steadfast in the victorious revolution's trench."
Two other key figures in former regime are wanted for alleged war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC) - Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam, who is in custody in Libya, and his brother-in-law Abdullah al-Senussi, the former head of military intelligence.
Libya has insisted they should both be tried by a Libyan court.
Mr Senussi, who was captured in Mauritania last November, has been charged with illegally entering the West African country.
Font: By Nic Robertson, CNN
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