The trial of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein on charges of crimes against humanity resumes with the sometimes chaotic process at a crucial juncture as it starts to move forward.

Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussien testifies during cross-examination at an earlier session of his trial in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. Saddam's trial on charges of crimes against humanity resumes 12 April with the sometimes chaotic process at a crucial juncture as it starts to move forward. [AFP]

However, Saddam Hussein and his seven co-defendants will not be present, the court said Tuesday.

The session "will only last five to 10 minutes and none of the defendants will be present," an official with the Iraqi High Tribunal said.

The session will "only be a continuation meeting and the next full session will convene on April 17."

A court official had said earlier the session was expected to be short, with more documents to be presented linking the defendants to the killings of more than 140 villagers from Dujail in the mid-1980s.

In sharp contrast to raucous earlier hearings, the trial has recently moved to the more mundane business of introducing evidence.

Nehal Buta of New York based Human Rights Watch, who has been tracking the trial since October, said: "The prosecution has to now levy individual charges against the defendants."

While saying the trial had slipped into a type of legal groove, Buta said it was still far away "from international standards when it comes to legal proceedings".

"We still have not seen qualitative improvement in the conduct of the proceedings."

In the last hearing, Saddam and Awad Ahmad al-Bander, the former chief judge of the revolutionary court and deputy head of Saddam's office, dismissed charges that they had massacred the villagers.

During the trial's April 5 and 6 hearings, Saddam and Bander categorically dismissed evidence, including testimonies of witnesses, that chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mussawi said linked them to the Dujail killings.

Saddam bluntly charged that the witnesses presented against him were bribed and coerced by the prosecution.

Saying prosecution documents linking him to the executions were forged, Saddam defended his decision to try the Dujail suspects, who allegedly were later executed.

"This was my decision as the president. I had the right to question the judgement, but I was convinced of the evidence against them."

The killings followed an attempt on Saddam's life in the village.

Saddam also dismissed Mussawi's attempts to show identity cards of some Dujail suspects showing they were minors at the time of their executions.

"These documents are forged. I have never done anything to a youngster," Saddam said.

"All these documents are forged and can be purchased on the streets of Baghdad. I can purchase a card like that saying the judge Rauf (Abdel Rahman) is 25 years old."

Meanwhile, the Iraqi High Tribunal is also laying charges of genocide for the first time against the toppled president and six others over the Anfal campaign against Kurds that left around 100,000 people dead in 1987-1988.