BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Court proceedings in the trial against Tariq Aziz, one of the best-known faces of Saddam Hussein's former regime in Iraq, and several co-defendants have ended after being in session only briefly Tuesday. The trial of Tariq Aziz, pictured here in a Baghdad courtroom in July 2004, has begun. The trial, which is to resume May 20, was delayed because one of the defendants, Ali Hassan al-Majeed, also known as "Chemical Ali," was not present because he was ill. Iraqi procedural codes require that all defendants be in court for the first session. Chief Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman read a U.S. medical report signed by three doctors that said al-Majeed is in critical condition after suffering a heart attack two weeks ago.
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Tariq Aziz, former Iraqi deputy PM, appears in court over executions
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He and five others charged with execution of 42 merchants
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This is the fourth major trial of ex-Hussein officials since invasion
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Violence continues in Baghdad as U.S. troops kill insurgents in gunbattle
He said he would return to @placeholder for this trial only if he were assured he would not be arrested.