The International Crimes Tribunal-2 (ICT-2) on Monday framed charges against two expatriate war crime suspects– Ashrafuzzaman Khan and Chowdhury Mueen Uddin– for their alleged involvement in 1971 atrocities. The tribunal, headed by its chairman Justice Obaidul Hassan, brought 11 charges against the duo and set July 15 to hear opening statement of the case from the prosecution.
It has also asked the prosecution to submit the list of witnesses and contact the relatives of the two.
Ashraf and Mueen are widely believed to be the masterminds of the killings of martyred intellectuals in December, 1971.
Presently Ashraf is staying in the USA, while Mueen resides in the UK.
As the two suspects fled the country soon after the Independence of Bangladesh and did not come back, the tribunal decided to hold the trial in absentia and appointed two state defence lawyers to defend them.
The tribunal earlier heard arguments from both prosecution and defence on charge framing matters on June 16.
During the hearing, prosecutor Advocate Shahidur Rahman placed submission against two expatriate suspects, stressing the need for charge framing against them for their outrageous participation in the crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.
“They were involved in different offences during the Liberation War including the killing of 18 martyred intellectuals just before December 16, 1971,” the prosecutor said.
At the other end, state appointed defence lawyers Advocate Abdus Sukkur Khan appearing for Ashraf, while Advocate Salma Hye Tuni stood for Mueen during the charge hearing.
-With The Independent input
