Staff Reporter:
The testimony and cross-examination of 12 witnesses have so far been completed yesterday in a case linked to July Uprising filed against ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and two others on charges of committing crimes against humanity.
A three-member International Crimes Tribunal-1 headed by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Majumdar fixed Wednesday as the next date for taking testimony upon concluding the testimony and cross-examination of three witnesses in the case.
Testimony and cross-examination of nine witnesses in the case were earlier completed in four days.
ICT Chief Prosecutor Muhammad Tajul Islam, Prosecutors Mizanul Islam and Prosecutor Gazi MH Tamim conducted the hearing. Other ICT prosecutors were present at that time.
State-appointed lawyer Amir Hossain moved before the tribunal on behalf of the fugitive Sheikh Hasina and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal while lawyer Zayed Bin Amjad for former In-spector General of Police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.
The ICT-1 framed charges against Sheikh Hasina, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun and ordered the trial to begin on July 10.
In addition, the tribunal approved the application of former IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun to become a state witness to uncover the truth of the incident by pleading guilty in this case.
On June 16 last, the ICT-1 ordered a notice to be published in a Bengali and an English newspaper for the fugitive Sheikh Hasina and Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to appear before the tribunal.
The next day, a notice was published in the two newspapers following the court order asking Sheikh Hasina and Kamal to surrender within seven days.
However, after the notification, the two absconding accused did not appear before the tribunal, so the state appointed a lawyer to represent them before the tribunal during the case proceedings.
The International Crimes Tribunal-1 took cognizance of the formal charges against deposed Sheikh Hasina on June 1 for committing crimes against humanity during the student-led mass uprising in July-August last year.
The prosecution filed a formal charge against Sheikh Hasina, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.
The ICT was reconstituted after the Awami League government fell in the face of the student uprising on August 5 last year.
The first case was filed at the tribunal against Sheikh Hasina on charges of crimes against humanity committed during the mass uprising.
Apart from the first case, there are two other cases against Sheikh Hasina in the tribunal.
In one of them, she has been accused of disappearances and murders of numerous people during her 15 and a half year rule of the Awami League government.
The other case was filed in connection with the killings of numerous people in attacks at a Hefazat-e-Islam rally at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel in the capital.
