Thirteen army officers have been brought before International Crimes Tribunal-1 today in connection with two cases of crimes against humanity involving enforced disappearances and torture during the fascist Awami League government’s fifteen and a half years in power. Security around the tribunal area has been tightened with the deployment of additional army and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel.
On Sunday (23 November), at around 10 a.m., police brought them to the tribunal in a prison van under strict security. One by one, the officers were taken from the van to the detention cell.
Earlier, on 8 October, the tribunal issued arrest warrants against 25 former and current army officers in these two cases and another case related to killings during the July mass uprising. On the same day, the prosecution submitted formal charges.
Later, on 22 October morning, 15 officers who were in army custody were brought to the tribunal in civilian clothes in a special prison van. After the hearing, the tribunal ordered them sent to jail. They were later taken to a declared sub-jail inside Dhaka Cantonment. The tribunal also ordered that notices be published in two national dailies, in both Bangla and English, asking fugitive accused in the two enforced disappearance cases to appear. The notices have already been published.
Earlier, in two separate cases, Tribunal-1 also issued arrest warrants against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her security adviser retired Major General Tarique Ahmed Siddique, and five former directors-general of DGFI, along with 30 others.