Cairo, Sha'ban 9, 1435, Jun 7, 2014, SPA -- A Cairo court Saturday began hearing a case in which three German citizens are accused of illegally taking samples from the Great Pyramid at Giza, dpa reported. Prosecutors say that Dominique Goerlitz and two associates entered a chamber in the pyramid that was not open to the public and removed paint and rock samples without authorization. The three are being tried in absentia, having left Egypt after the events at the centre of the case. Germany has no extradition treaty with Egypt. Six Egyptian citizens accused of assisting the three, including three Antiquities Ministry inspectors, are before the court and face lengthy sentences if found guilty. The case was adjourned to September 14 after a brief procedural hearing. Goerlitz, 47, who describes himself as an independent "experimental archaeologist," does not deny taking the samples. He says that "it has never been logically clarified how Bronze Age people 4,600 years ago" could have built the pyramid. Egypt has asked the German authorities to return the samples allegedly taken by Goerlitz, a source in the German Foreign Ministry told dpa, adding that Germany is working on the request. -- SPA 18:33 LOCAL TIME 15:33 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w