International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) on Wednesday accepted the statements of four prosecution witnesses given to the investigation officer (IO) as their depositions against BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury. The three-member tribunal, headed by its chairman Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, also denied accepting the statements of four other witnesses as their testimonies.
Earlier, prosecution filed a petition, requesting the tribunal to accept the statements of eight prosecution witnesses as their testimonies.
Hearing arguments on the petition on Tuesday, the tribunal accepted the depositions of four prosecution witnesses, considering the impossibility of their appearances before the tribunal and rejected the other four.
It accepted the statements of Josna Bala Chowdhury, Janoti Bala Chowdhury and Abul Boshor, who passed away after giving their statements to the investigation officer about the allegations against Salauddin Quader.
The tribunal also accepted the statement of Badal Biswas who is now staying in India.
The tribunal refused to accept the statements of Shefali Chowdhury, Amalendu Bikash Chowdhury, Shantanu Biswas and Sagar Paul.
The tribunal also rejected the defence’s petition, seeking recall of one of its earlier order for quashing the case against Salauddin Quader. The tribunal passed the order on March 3 last year under the chairmanship of former ICT-1 chairman Justice Nizamul Huq.
Another defence petition wishing further cross-examination of two prosecution witnesses was also rejected by the tribunal.
On behalf of the defence, Barrister Fakhrul Islam filed the petitions.
Later, the tribunal heard the deposition of investigation officer Nurul Islam for the second day.
Prosecutor Advocate Sultan Mahmud Simon assisted Islam to give his deposition, while the defence counsels Advocate Ahsanul Huq Hena and Barrister Fakhrul Islam were present during the proceedings.
Salauddin Quader is facing 23 charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971.
-With The Independent input
