The first Guantanamo Bay prisoner transferred to the United States has pleaded not guilty on charges surrounding the 1998 embassy bombings in East Africa. On Tuesday, Ahmed Ghailani appeared in a New York federal courtroom after his arrival from Guantanamo earlier in the day. Ghailani’s military attorney, Marine Lt. Col. Jeffrey Colwell, welcomed the shift to a civilian court.

Marine Lt. Col. Jeffrey Colwell: “I think it’s a good thing for the rule of law. He’s in an established court with established procedures and processes and all that, so not in kind of a limbo that he’s been in for so many years and months.”

Two hundred twenty-four people were killed in the attacks on the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Ghailani has previously admitted to supplying the attackers but said he was unaware they intended to bomb the embassies.