ICT prosecution seeks trial of Hasina, 9 others over 'extrajudicial killings' in 2016 Gazipur anti-militancy operation
The ICT fixed 10 August to hear discharge petitions before deciding whether to frame charges against the 10 accused.
The prosecution at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) today (2 August) urged the tribunal to frame charges against ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and nine others in a crimes against humanity case over the alleged extrajudicial killing of seven people during a 2016 anti-militancy operation in Gazipur.
Presiding over the hearing, Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder of the ICT-1 tribunal fixed 10 August to hear discharge petitions from the accused before deciding whether to frame charges and begin the trial.
Besides Hasina, the accused include former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal; former inspectors general of police AKM Shahidul Hoque and Javed Patwary; former Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia; former additional inspector general of police Monirul Islam; and four other former police officials.
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According to the prosecution, the case centres on "Operation Shoroter Tufan," an anti-militancy operation conducted in Patartek, Gazipur, on 8 October 2016.
Prosecutor Gazi MH Tamim told the tribunal that the seven victims had been picked up from different parts of the country, detained at a secret police facility in Bogura and later taken to a house in Patartek, where they were allegedly killed in a "staged anti-militancy operation" led by the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit.
The prosecution alleged that the killings formed part of a broader pattern of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings carried out between 2009 and 2024.
Former IGP Shahidul Hoque and former DMP commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia, who are in custody, were produced before the tribunal during today's hearing.
The prosecution submitted its formal charge sheet against the 10 accused on 3 February this year.
