DHAKA, July 10:
A special tribunal in Bangladesh on Thursday indicted deposed premier Sheikh Hasina in absentia on charges of crimes against humanity in connection with a deadly crackdown on protesters during the July-August uprising last year.
The International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh (ICT-BD) has set August 3 as the date for the trial.
The tribunal has “framed the charge against her (Hasina) alongside the Home Minister of her regime Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and (the then) Inspector General of Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun,” a prosecution lawyer told reporters.
The ICT bench, headed by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, passed the order after rejecting a defence plea to dismiss the charges. The other two members of the tribunal are Justices Md Shofiul Alam Mahmood and Md Mohitul Haq Enam Chowdhury.
The prosecutors said Hasina along with the co-accused was indicted on five charges, including mass killings, murder, and torture to tame the protestors during last year’s July-August uprising.
If proven guilty, the accused could face the death penalty.
According to a UN rights office report, up to 1,400 people were killed between July 15 and August 15 last year as Hasina’s Government ordered a security crackdown on protesters.
With Thursday’s order, the formal trial against 72-year-old Hasina and other defendants in the case for crimes against humanity has begun for the first time.
Hasina faces multiple cases in Bangladesh after being ousted on August 5 last year following a mass student-led agitation in the country, which forced her to flee Dhaka.
Mamun, the only accused appearing in person, pleaded guilty when produced before the tribunal from custody, prosecutors added.
During the indictment hearing, the former police chief expressed his willingness to make a statement in the prosecution’s favour at a later stage. The presiding judge said the tribunal would later decide whether to treat him as an “approver”.
Mamun’s lawyer told journalists that the ex-police chief agreed to become a state witness, confessing his role during the violent movement.
The ICT-BD’s investigation agency on May 12 filed its report in the case, bringing five charges against the trio. (PTI)
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