Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein admitted on Wednesday that he ordered the razing of the orchards of those convicts in Dujail after their assassination attempt on him in 1982.
Saddam said he was ready to take the commanding responsibility for demolishing orchards, adding that he wanted to save trouble for the court.
"I was the one who signed the decision of demolishing the orchids," Saddam said.
"I was attacked by a machine-gun from some 50 meters, bullets passed so close," Saddam told the court.
According to the Iraqi law, Saddam said, the state has the right to confiscate any land for common interest with symbolic compensation.
But, "I changed the compensation into profitable compensation," Saddam said.
He also said it was him who ordered the then Revolutionary Court to prosecute and try those who involved in the assassination attempt.
On Wednesday, the trial of Saddam Hussein and his seven aides resumed in a Baghdad court, with absence of Saddam's chief attorney, Khalil al-Dulaimi, who walked out during Tuesday's session.
Saddam, who looked quiet, was the first of the eight defendants to enter the court as the session started at 11:30 a.m. (1030 GMT) on the second straight day of hearings.
Tuesday and Wednesday's trial focused on documents presented by chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi.
During Wednesday's session, al-Moussawi presented several documents. One of them, dated from March 31, 1987, said that the last batch on the death list in the northern village of Dujail had been executed.
Al-Moussawi tried to link Saddam and his aides to atrocities perpetrated in the aftermath of Dujail massacre, saying that the documents submitted to the court proved that the 148 victims were executed without trial.
"Some of those victims were sued to court after they were liquidated during the interrogations," he said.
The defendants questioned the documents, all dated back to the mid-1980s, when al-Moussawi read some excerpts related to the Dujail case.
The court also heard a recording tape of a dialogue between Saddam and AbdulGhani Abdul Ghafour, a former member of the dissolved Baath regional command, about the demolishing of Dujail orchards and other Iraqi areas such as the marshes in the south.
On Tuesday, al-Moussawi told reporters that there were seven more witnesses, one of whom was Saadoun Shaker, former interior minister during Dujail massacre and six from Dujal residents, one of whom had died.
In Wednesday's session, the chief prosecutor read some testimonies of some witnesses in their absence.
But Saadoun Shaker did testify, as al-Moussawi said Shaker is now a defendant and no more a witness.
Taha Yassin Ramadan, one of the eight defendants, complained that the prosecutor has turned Shaker from witness into a defendant after he refused to testify against Saddam and his co- defendants.
Al-Moussawi rejected Ramadan's accusation, saying that he punished Shaker because Shaker insulted him.
Several of the lawyers appointed by the court also spoke out, saying that naming witness alone is not accurate enough.
Ramadan also argued the credibility of the testimonies.
"How can we be sure about the credibility of the testimony? The chief prosecutor is not acting like a chief prosecutor, he is an enemy to us trying to hurt us by every possibly way," he said.
Another defendant Barzan Ibrahim said, "It is unjust to bring in street witnesses without specific names and personal information for testimony. Maybe those witnesses have personal motive against me, so witness identity should be clarified."
The chief judge announced the trial of Saddam Hussein, which began in October 2005, would be adjourned until March 12.
Saddam and seven of his high-profile defendants are facing charges of crimes against humanity, including the killing of 148 Shiite men in Dujail after a failed assassination attempt on Saddam in 1982.
If convicted of the charges, Saddam and his aides might face the death penalty.