Tariq Aziz, once Saddam Hussein's urbane voice to the world but now languishing in an Iraqi prison, has met his defence lawyer for the first time since his arrest in April last year.
He is expected to be interrogated by an investigative judge, said Mr Badee Izzat Aref, lawyer of the former deputy prime minister and foreign minister.
The lawyer said he met Aziz for about five hours "and he wrote me notes with his own hand about several things."
The meeting came 10 days after interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said war crimes trials against Iraq's former Baath Party leaders were about to start.
Cigar smoking Aziz, the only Christian in the top leadership, was allegedly involved in several party purges in the 1970s and 80s during which an unspecified number of people died.
AP