Iceland begins its first prosecution tomorrow of demonstrators who stormed parliament amid protests during the island's financial storm in December 2008.

The defendants, known as the Reykjavík Nine, face possible sentences ranging from a year to life in prison for their role in events which culminated in the fall of the coalition.

The charge of threatening the Icelandic government has only been used once before – in 1949, against anti-Nato protesters. Only nine of 30 demonstrators have been charged due to problems in identifying the protesters on CCTV, prompting widespread criticism of the trial.

In December 2008, 30 demonstrators entered the Icelandic parliamentary building through the visitor's entrance and two made their way to the public benches.

The small protest was one of many in the winter of 2008, when thousands of Icelanders took to the streets amid the collapse of the banking system and the currency, the krona, which left Iceland saddled with debts that were at one point 11 times its national income.

Nine of the 30 demonstrators were arrested at the time and a police investigation was launched.

The Reykjavik Nine were only notified a full year after their arrest that they were being charged with violating article 100 of the Icelandic penal code, an offence which holds a minimum sentence of one year but a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

This charge, which concerns threatening the autonomy of Althingi, the Icelandic parliament, has only been used once before – in 1949, against anti-Nato protestors in the newly independent republic. Coincidentally, the father of one of the Reykjavik Nine was one of those imprisoned after the demonstrations.

The case has been mired in controversy since it remains unclear why only nine protesters are facing trial. Hulda Elsa Björgvinsdóttir, who is working alongside the state prosecutor, said: "The police had some trouble identifying the people seen on the videotape."

Birgitta Jónsdóttir, MP for the Movement party, told Reykjavík Grapevine that the charges against the nine should be dropped. "If someone was injured, and if there was violence involved, then that is a different story The issue is first and foremost politically motivated. This is political persecution," she said.