At last the trial of Egypt's former President Hosni Mubarak is set to start in the capital Cairo, six months after the mass protests that forced him from power.
The 83-year-old, who was the country's strongman ruler for 30 years before January's revolution, faces charges of corruption and of killing 800 pro-democracy campaigners during the uprising.
"They should hang him," said Jalal Faisal Ali, whose 18-year-old brother Nasser was among those who died.
"He was responsible for all of the deaths, because it was to save him and his sons," he added.
Mr Mubarak will appear alongside his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, and other regime officials at a special courtroom set up at a police academy that used to bear his name on the outskirts of Cairo.
The man who for decades locked up and tortured his opponents will - like any other accused Egyptian criminal - be held in an iron cage in the court throughout the trial that will be televised on state TV.
For those who demanded his downfall, his humbling and humiliation will make compulsive viewing.
"When I see this it will be like a dream," said Mahmoud Sameh, who joined the Tahrir Square protests.
"It feels like a big step towards us taking our rights," he added.
Mr Mubarak - formerly America's closest ally in the Arab world - has not been seen publicly since he stepped down.
He has been under "detention" at a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh where his doctors have frequently issued dire warnings about his condition.
Last week, he was declared by his lawyer to be in a coma, then he was awake and refusing to eat.
Pro-democracy activists, who see the trial as a key test of the progress towards a "new Egypt", fear his health would be used as an excuse to evade justice.
They also fear the military generals who are running the country ahead of free elections would help save their former master to prevent him revealing their own role in his repressive rule.
Just hours before the trial was due to start, the anticipation about his appearance was tempered by scepticism.
"I don't believe he's going to show up," one man said in a Cairo cafe.
"We want to see justice but he will find a way to get out of it," he added.
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