Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam on Saturday stated that trials against “top commanders” who were alleged of crimes against humanity, including deposed PM Sheikh Hasina, would be finished “within a year.”
Speaking at a national dialogue organized by the Forum for Bangladesh Studies, Tajul said he had talked to Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus two days ago and was told that there are “several priorities.”
The chief prosecutor reported that Yunus told him that “the biggest priority is the trial of those who turned the country into a utopia of murder and dissolution, who tarnished the soil of Bangladesh with the blood of students.”
“Top commanders or top criminals” are usually tried for crimes against humanity, Tajul said and portrayed Hasina as the “nucleus” of the killings during the July-August student-led protest.
He said Hasina and some of her subordinates are being given “precedence” in the trials. The aim is to complete their trials as soon as possible, and the ICT has that capability. “The cases of the main accused in the ICT and the trials of all of them can be completed within the next year,” Tajul promised.
