Gadhafi Son To Be Tried Next Month.

The trial of the son of slain Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi will begin in September, a spokesperson with the country’s prosecution said Thursday.

Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, 40, will be tried in the town of Zintan, AFP reported. Gadhafi has been kept in detention in the mountain town since last year.

More specifically, a source, who was not named, told Reuters that Gadhafi would be put on trial “probably the second week of the month” of September.

His charges include complicity and the ordering of the killing of protesters when unrest broke out in February 2011, which eventually led to a civil war that ultimately ousted his father’s regime.

Prosecutor general spokesperson Taha Nasser Baara dismissed claims that the trial will be held in Zintan because the local militia ordered it.

“Zintan is a Libyan city and the law allows us to try Saif in the majority of Libyan cities, in that these crimes concern the whole country,” Baraa told the news agency, adding that “cities far from the capital are more secure.”

Gadhafi has said that he wants to be tried in The Hague-based International Criminal Court, but local Libyan officials have refused to budge.

There has been speculation that Gadhafi, if convicted, will face the death penalty.

Baraa said, “During investigations, there was no intervention by the ICC,” while the prosecutor general’s “evidence is sufficient to condemn and judge him,” AFP reported.

Gadhafi was at one time considered his father’s right-hand man and was essentially groomed as his successor.