Iraq's fugitive Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi has been charged with several murders, including those of six judges, court officials in Baghdad say.
Mr Hashemi is not expected to attend his trial, which opens on Thursday. He has taken refuge in the Kurdish north.
Mr Hashemi, who was the most senior Sunni figure in Shia-dominated Iraq, fled in December 2011 after allegations that he was implicated in death squads.