Nairobi - The murder trial of four Kenyans accused of involvement in the 2002 bombing of a hotel near Mombasa is set to resume only in January 2005, a defence lawyer said on Monday.
Justice John Osiemo on Friday "adjourned the trial to next year and fixed the date for the next hearing as from January 17 to February 10," when the trial will adjourn again, Maobe Mao said.
Since February, when the trial opened, only 79 out of about 145 witnesses have testified, Maobe said.
The suspects - Aboud Rogo Mohammed, Mohammed Kubwa, Omar Said Omar and Mohammed Ali Saleh Nabhan - are charged with the murder of 12 Kenyans and three Israelis in the bombing of the Paradise Hotel near Mombasa on November 28 2002.
Moments before that attack, an Israeli airline carrying departing holidaymakers narrowly missed being hit by a shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile.
The attack on the Israeli-owned Paradise hotel killed 12 Kenyans, three Israelis and three presumed bombers.
Most of the dead Kenyans were dancers hired to greet new guests.
None of the witnesses has so far been able to link any of the four men on trial to the actual bombing.