Prosecutor Dr Tureen Afroz on Wednesday ‘identified’ war crimes accused BNP MP Salauddin Quader Chowdhury as the 1971 Rasputin before the International Crimes Tribunal -1 while summing up arguments in the case. “The accused is that Rasputin who is looking for himself but not getting. He’ll find himself if he stands before the mirror,” said Tureen. Dr Tureen said, “The 1971 Rasputin deserves capital punishment for his vile acts of crimes against humanity, including genocide, loot, arson, torture, deportation during the Liberation War in 1971 in collaboration with the Pakistan occupation forces as the prosecution has been able to prove the charges beyond any reasonable doubt.” The accused cannot avoid his superior responsibility over his liability of crimes as he failed to take necessary measures to prevent the commission of atrocities during the 1971 Liberation War, argued the prosecutor. “According to charges made against Salauddin Quader, we found his presence in all the places of occurrence confirming his complicity in crimes committed by several persons under the category of Joint Criminal Enterprise (JCE),” Tureen told the tribunal, adding that each of such persons is liable for the crime in the same manner as if it was done by him alone. About the alibi plea of the accused, prosecutor Zeal Al Malum said the four defence witnesses, including the accused, had made contradictory statements before the tribunal terming those as cock and bull stories.
The prosecutor said the defence had failed to prove the plea of alibi as none of the defence witnesses submitted any travel documents that the accused had left Dhaka for Karachi on March 29, 1971 by PIA airlines and later the DW 2 and 3 followed him in April. “So the statements made by the DWs are not tenable in the eye of law.” Earlier, designated prosecutor Sultan Mahmud Simon concluded his arguments over 17 out of 23 charges placing in detail discussions on the verity of facts through the evidence of prosecution witnesses to establish the involvement of crimes against humanity ‘perpetrated’ by Salauddin Quader in collaboration with the Pakistan occupation forces in the 1971 Liberation War.
Evaluating the evidence of 41 prosecution witnesses and four defence witnesses, the prosecution made its summing-up arguments with relevant law points exhausting four working days. The defence counsel will make their summing-up arguments on Thursday. Detained Salauddin Quader faces trial on 23 counts of charges under different provisions of section 3 (2) of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973. The charges include abduction and murdering civilians, collaborating with the Pakistani occupation army to kill and torture unarmed people, genocide, looting of valuables and torching of houses and other properties, persecuting people on religious and political grounds, and committing atrocities on Hindus in Chittagong districts. According to the charges, MP Salauddin was involved in the killing of more than 200 people, including the much-talked-about killing of Nutan Chandra Singh, founder of Kundeshwari Oushadhalaya at Gahira in Rauzan, Chittagong. On April 4 last year, the tribunal indicted detained accused BNP stalwart Salauddin Quader for his alleged involvement in crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War. – UNB
