Dhaka – The prosecution yesterday pressed eight charges against nine persons in a case filed for allegedly committing crimes during the Liberation War of 1971.Prosecutor Abul Kalam submitted the formal charges with statements of prosecution witnesses and other documents before the International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1). The tribunal fixed July 10 to decide whether it will take the charges into cognizance or not.
According to the investigators the accused were “involved” in eight crime incidents when at least 101 people were killed, 10 to 13 people were injured, a woman was raped and 110 to 112 houses were torched in Muktagachha and Mymensingh Sadar. Of the eight charges, three were related with genocide, one with rape and others with murder and other crimes.
Of the nine accused, six are in the jail while three others- Shamsher Kakir, 66, Fazlul Haque and Shamsul Haque, 70 are yet to be taken into custody. The remaining accused persons are Abdus Salam, 75, Suruj Ali Fakir, 62, Joyen Uddin Faruki alias Joynal Abedin, 60, Abdur Rahim alias Abdur Rahim Master, 67, Jalal Uddin, 59, and Rustam Ali, 70.
On March 29, the tribunal's investigation agency completed investigation of the case. On the same day, they submitted the report and other documents to the Chief Prosecutors’ Office.
Of the nine accused, Abdus Salam was involved with Al-Badr force, while the rest were alleged Razakar men.
The accused allegedly killed four people of Binodbari Mankone village. Later, they set fire at a house killing seven other persons of the same village, injuring two others. They torched a house killing 14 people of Darikrishnapur in Muktagacha upazilla. Besides, they killed 19 people and injured several others of the same village. They killed 28 to 30 people and injured six to seven people of Mirzakanda Katalsar and killed 16 to 18 people Kabirpur. They raped a woman of Birashi Purba Para and torched 30 to 35 houses. They also killed 13 people of Shasanich village. – Special Correspondent
