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Jamaat trying to make a farce of war crimes trial

Says Shahriar Kabir

Staff Correspondent
Criticising the submission of the names of 15,000 defence witnesses in four cases against four top Jamaat leaders, writer Shahriar Kabir yesterday said the Jamaat, through these activities, was trying to make the war crimes trial farcical and questionable.
Historically, no country has seen a case with such a huge number of witnesses and “it will delay the trial procedure and the tribunal has to realise this fact,” said Shahriar.
The acting president of Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee was addressing a discussion, “Problems in the trial of war criminals: Duties of the government and civil society”, organised by the committee at Bilia Auditorium in the capital.
The tribunal should fix the number of witnesses to take into cognisance in the same way it fixed the time allotment for cross-examination of witnesses, demanded Shahriar.
“If our prosecutors cross-examine one witness for four days and conduct the cases for 300 working days, the hearing of the four cases will take 200 years to complete,” said the journalist.
The trial of 21 people and seven organisations was held in 10 months in
Nuremberg, where 350 people testified. "Our tribunal must take these things into cognisance. Otherwise the trial will be delayed,” he said.
Shahriar said members of the Jamaat, Al-Badr and Al-Shams must also be brought to the dock. Otherwise it would be tough to prove Ghulam Azam's war crimes.
He alleged that the government was not paying any heed to the committee's appeals, which include increasing logistic support for the tribunals.
He added that some lawmakers, who presumed they understood everything, were enough to make the trial farcical.
Dr Nuzhat Chowdhury Shampa, daughter of Shaheed Dr Alim Chowdhury, said, “We will not accept any symbolic trial. Not only the top criminals, we want trial of all criminals and their organisations.”
An adviser to the committee, Prof Ajoy Roy, said the recognised Razakars should be tried first and then the remaining ones. The trial process should continue and whenever an accused is arrested, the trial must immediately be held, he added.
Ayesha Khanam, president of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad; Shaheen Reza Noor, president of Projonmo 71; and Tania Amir, member of Bangladesh Bar Council, also spoke al the discussion.