Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's genocide trial resumed in Baghdad on Monday without lawyers representing the former Iraqi president or any of the other six defendants.
Saddam was present in the courtroom without his nine-member defense team.
His lawyers announced on Sunday that they would boycott the proceedings "indefinitely" due to the replacement of the chief judge.
They also alleged other violations of legal procedure, such as the court's refusal to hear non-Iraqi lawyers and its demand that foreign attorneys seek permission to enter the courtroom.
The new chief judge, Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa, says despite the absence of Saddam's lawyers, the court was "complete."
 "With the appearance of the prosecution and also the defendants and the lawyers who have been assigned by the court as well as the witness Mahmoud Rasoul Mustafa, we will start this open trial."
Saddam and six others have been on trial since August 21 for the deaths of 180,000 Kurds in the 1980s, mainly villagers, some poisoned with chemical gas.
Saddam could face execution if convicted of genocide.
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Director: Liu Chi