The prosecution in the war crimes trials expects verdicts against at least two more accused by the end of next month. Earlier, two International Crimes Tribunals delivered nine verdicts against 10 accused persons last year. The trial against former Awami League leader Mobarak Hossain is nearing its end, while almost 70 per cent of the proceedings against Jamaat-e-Islami leader AKM Yousuf has been completed so far.
However, the outcome of the Mobarak trial depended on the resumption of proceedings at the International Crimes Tribunal-1, which has been stalled since the retirement of its chairman, Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, on December 31, 2013, prosecutor Shahidur Rahman said on Saturday.
“We have reached the fag end of the trial against Mobarak Hossain. Prosecution witnesses have completed their depositions. Out of three defence witnesses, one has already testified, while the depositions of the other two were stalled due to the retirement of the tribunal chairman,” he said.
“Once tribunal-1 resumes proceedings with the appointment of a new judge, it would not take much time to wrap up the case. After the deposition of the remaining defence witnesses, the prosecution and the defence teams will place their summing up arguments, which would take a maximum of seven days,” he said. He, however, added that the tribunal would take its time to prepare the verdict.
Mobarak, who was a former Jamaat-e-Islami leader, testified for himself as the first defence witness. He is accused of committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in Brahmanbaria and Akhaura areas.
As per the allegations, he played the leading role in a genocide causing the death of 33 people at Akhaura in 1971.
Meanwhile, the trial against Yousuf, nayeb-e-ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami, is nearing its end in Tribunal-2. “I think 70 per cent of the trial has been finished as 19 defence witnesses have given their testimonies so far. Defence witness-20 is scheduled to testify on Sunday. After that, we’ll seek the tribunal’s permission to place two more witnesses,” prosecutor Hrishikesh Saha said. “Considering the trial’s progress, we can expect an end to the proceedings by the end of next month. However, everything would depend on the tribunal,” he added.
Regarding the remaining phase of the trial against Yousuf, the prosecutor said the defence witnesses would also give their depositions before the arguments takes place.
“Unlike the previous cases, the arguments will not take much time, as so many legal issues were settled in the earlier judgements by the tribunals,” Saha said.
“The issues of superior responsibility and other complications were disposed of in the previous verdicts. So, we don’t have to argue on those points. It would certainly reduce the time taken for arguments,” he added.
Yousuf was accused of various crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, arson, confinement, conversion and deportation allegedly committed during the Liberation War.
The tribunal had indicted him on August 1 last year, implicating him in 13 charges.
Apart from the two cases, trials against five other suspects are going on in the two tribunals. The suspects are Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali, ATM Azharul Islam, Abdus Sobhan, fugitive BNP leader Zahid Hossain Khokon, and Jatiya Party leader Syed Mohammad Kaiser. But the cases are still at early stages.
In addition to that, the verdict against Jamaat-e-Islami is pending with the Tribunal-1 since November 13, 2013.
Courtesy of The Independent
