The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1 on Tuesday indicted 16 men from Maheshkhali, Cox’s Bazar, framing 10 charges of crimes against humanity against them.
“The charges so framed have been read over and explained to the accused Salamatullah Khan, Moulavi Mohammad Nurul Islam, Osman Gani and Badsha Mia to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried according to law. The rest 12 accused remained absconded and as such the charges framed against them as above could not be explained to them,” Justice Md Shainur Islam, chairman of the three-member panel of the tribunal, said.
The other 12 accused are Moulavi Mohammad Zokoria Sikder, Oli Ahmad, Momtaz Ahmad alias Montaz, Moulavi Ramiz Hasan, Mohammad Jalaluddin alias Jalal Ahmad, Mohammad Saiful alias Sabul, Abdul Aziz, Habibur Rahman alias Habib Munshi, Mohammad Zakaria alias Mohammad Zokoria, Moulavi Amjad Ali, Abdus Sukkur and Moulavi Jalal alias Jalal Ahmad.
“The tribunal framed 10 charges including six for committing genocide.
It set May 13 for submission of opening statement by the prosecution,” prosecutor Tapas Kanti Baul told BSS.
Earlier on March 15, 2016, the prosecution submitted the formal charge in the case, pressing 12 charges against the accused.
The investigation agency of the ICT while probing the crimes committed by Cox’s Bazar Razakar kingpins Salamat, Rashid and Zokoria, found the involvement of others in the crimes against humanity and acting on their plea, the tribunal had issued warrants for their arrest.
Former BNP lawmaker Abdur Rashid, who was also an accused in the case, died on March 29 as he was on bail.
