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The hearing on framing formal charges against ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and seven others in a crimes against humanity case over the killing of nine young men at the Kallyanpur ‘Jahaj Bari’ building in Dhaka has been postponed again.
The International Crimes Tribunal has set November 17 for the next hearing.
A three-member bench of International Crimes Tribunal-2, headed by Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury, fixed the date on Wednesday after defence lawyer Sifat Mahmud Shubho sought more time. The prosecution did not oppose the request.
The other members of the bench are Judges Md Manjurul Bashid and Nur Mohammad Shahriar Kabir.
Prosecutors Zahurul Amin, Oli Mia, Mamunur Rashid and Moinul Karim, among others, were present during the proceedings.
The prosecution was scheduled to present its arguments on the formal framing of charges on Wednesday. However, the hearing was deferred following the defence’s request for additional time.
Former Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque and former Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Md Asaduzzaman Mia are currently in custody in connection with the case.
The six other accused, including Hasina and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, remain at large. They are former DMP additional commissioner (Crime and Operations) Sheikh Muhammad Maruf Hasan, former Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) chief Monirul Islam, former DMP joint commissioner (Crime) Krishnapada Roy and former joint commissioner (Detective Branch) Abdul Baten.
The case was initially being heard by International Crimes Tribunal-1. During a hearing on July 21, prosecutor Gazi MH Tamim outlined the allegations and sought the framing of charges against all eight accused.
The prosecution alleged that, during the Awami League government’s tenure, young men were picked up from different parts of the country, branded as militants and taken to the Kallyanpur building, where they were killed. It said relatives of several victims had provided statements to investigators and would be presented as witnesses during the trial.
The case was subsequently transferred to Tribunal-2 while defence arguments were under way, requiring both sides to present their arguments afresh on the framing of charges.
Tribunal-1 took cognisance of the formal charges submitted by the prosecution on January 29 this year. On March 8, state-appointed lawyers were assigned to represent the six absconding accused.
According to the prosecution, police conducted a raid on a suspected militant hideout at the building known as Jahaj Bari in Dhaka’s Kallyanpur on the night of July 25, 2016.
During the operation, code-named Operation Storm-26, nine young men were shot dead, the prosecution alleged. It claims the killings constituted a planned crime against humanity.
The allegations have yet to be established through trial.
