The Appellate Division has upheld the suspension of trial proceedings in four more cases against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
The cases, carrying charges of instigating vandalism and sedition, were started in 2015.
A virtual appellate bench headed by Justice Muhammad Imman Ali passed the order on Sunday, dismissing the state’s appeal against the High Court order staying the proceedings.
Additional Attorney General Momtaz Uddin Fakir appeared for the state while Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon represented Khaleda at the hearing.
Earlier, the top court put a freeze on eight cases of violence and sabotage on Aug 17 and 23.
Lawyer Khokon told bdnews24.com, “These cases were filed in Darussalam police station in 2015 in connection with incidents of sabotage and violence in 2014. Khaleda Zia’s name was not mentioned when the police lodged FIRs in these three cases. She was later named as the instigator in the chargesheet.”
“I told the court that these cases are purely politacally-motivated because Khaleda Zia was interned in her Gulshan office at when these incidents occurred. Water, electricity, gas and telephone connections there were cut off at the time. It was not possible for her to give out instructions under the circumstances.”
In 2017, the High Court suspended the proceedings in three cases of violence and sabotage started in 2015 while challenging their validity.
The other case is based on a complaint made by Supreme Court lawyer Momtaz Uddin Mehedi to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court over Khaleda’s controversial remarks in 2015 about the number of people martyred in the 1971 Liberation War.
The case was later suspended by the High Court in 2017 after Khaleda filed a petition challenging its legality
Source: bdnews24.com
