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Hartal delays war trials

Defence counsels keep on skipping proceedings

Mahbubur Rahman Khan and TUHIN SHUBHRA ADHIKARY
Judges, prosecutors, witnesses and accused were present at the court. Some junior defence counsels were there too. Yet the proceedings of war crimes cases against Jamaal leaders Motiur Rahman Nizami and AKM Yusuf did not take place as their senior counsels remained absent citing "unavoidable situation."
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And this is not the first time it happened.
Senior lawyers of the accused Jamaat leaders have been staying off the proceedings of the International Crimes Tribunal on hartal days, citing "security concerns". However, the prosecution says the defence does so as part of a "strategy to hamper the trial proceedings."
The defence counsels want to delay the trial as they think they will get advantage in the event of a change of government, said Mohammad Ali, conducting prosecutor of the case against Nizami.
The war crimes tribunals have repeatedly assured the senior counsels of Jamaat leaders of providing them with necessary protection.
The counsels for convicted BNP leaders Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Abdul Alim had appeared before the court in police protection.
But Jamaat leaders' counsels seem nonchalant.
"We will not appear [before the court| during hartal," Tajul Islam, a senior defence counsel, told The Daily Star. It was not possible for them to come to the tribunal on hartal days for lack of transport, he added.
Asked about the tribunal's offer to arrange transportation with police security, he said the defence did not have "faith in police protection."
Tajul describes the allegation of "delay tactics" as an "old story."
The BNP-led 18-party alliance, of which Jamaat is a major component, enforced hartal for six days in the last two weeks and has been enforcing an 84-hour hartal this week from Sunday. As the opposition threatens the government with more hartals in the days to come, justice seekers fear the trial will be delayed further.
On hartal days, a few junior defence counsels attend the court only to seek adjournments. So the tribunals do not make much progress in the trial of war crimes accused except for dealing with the prosecution's submissions, if there is any.
Both ICT-1 and ICT-2 had to adjourn the proceedings of the two cases against Nizami and Yusuf yesterday.
The tribunal has given priority to the war crimes case against Nizami over a couple of months and suspended proceedings of other
cases and matters for a long time to complete the trial of the Jamaat leader without any interference. His trial had been expected to end yesterday but it did not progress at all due to the hartal.
The tribunal had fixed three days for the prosecution and four days for the defence to complete their closing arguments. The prosecution did their part and were supposed to place arguments on legal points after the completion of the defence's closing argument.
The defence placed its argument only for a day that is Thursday. Yesterday was the fourth day but the defence has remained absent from the court from Sunday as the 84-hour hartal began on the day.
Against this backdrop, the tribunal fixed today as the defence's last chance to place arguments.
Yesterday was also fixed for the cross-examination of Yusuf Ali Sikdar, fourth prosecution witness in the case against AKM Yusuf, but Gazi MH Tamim, a junior member of the defence, sought adjournment saying that conducting lawyer Syed Mizanur Rahman could not appear before the court "due to unavoidable situation."
Judges, sons of the accused and prosecutors could come but Mizanur did not, ICT-2 Chairman Obaidul Hassan told the junior counsel.
"You [the defence) are following the order [of those] who have called hartal but not following ours.
"In the present situation, more hartals may be enforced but the tribunal can't sit idle.... Actually you are not cooperating," the judge said, adding court proceedings should be kept outside the purview of hartals.
On Sunday, Sikdar gave his testimony but Mizanur was not present and so the court adjourned the proceedings until yesterday.
AKM Nasiruddin Mahmud, registrar and spokesman of the tribunal, said that apart from the judges, around 30 staff of the judges, 10 tribunal staff and 25 employees came to the court on every working day, including hartal days.
Around 90 law enforcers are there to ensure tribunals’ security, he added.
"Although, we have assured senior defence counsels of police protection during hartal, neither did they seek protection nor did they appear in the court."