Prosecution lawyers yesterday completed arguments on the much-talked-about Jail Killing Case in the Court of Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge which is trying the accused for killing four national leaders inside Dhaka Central Jail on November 3, 1975.

"The evidence and statements of the witnesses proved the involvement of the accused in the killing of the four leaders inside the prison," Public Prosecutor Abdullah Mahmud Hassan told the court completing his argument.

The court set August 10 for the next hearing of the arguments on behalf of the accused when Advocate Sharfuddin Mukul, lawyer of accused Taheruddin Thakur, made the submission.

Out of the 20 accused, three fired army officers — Lt Colonels Syed Faruque Rahman and Sultan Shahriar Rashid and Major Bazlul Huda -- all convicts in Bangabandhu murder case, were brought to the court under police escort from jail.

Five accused, Shah Moazzem Hossain, KM Obaidur Rahman, Nurul Islam Manjur, Taheruddin Thakur and Major (retd) Khairuzzaman, all free on bail, were also present in the dock in line with an earlier court order.

Others, all believed to have fled the country, are being tried in absentia.

The case was filed in 1996, nearly 21 years after the killings of four national leaders — Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, M Mansur Ali and AHM Quamruzzaman — in a predawn swoop in the jail, where they were detained at that time.