'From Chargesheet To Verdict In 130 Days': Team Hasina Flags Crimes Tribunal's Rapid Trial Timeline

It took a 135-page chargesheet, accompanied by 8,747 pages of documents and evidence, and 81 witnesses for the three-member International Crimes Tribunal, led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder to announce the verdict against exiled Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina – to be hanged till death for her “crimes against humanity”.

Former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has been awarded the death penalty by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) while former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who became a state witness, is sentenced to five years of imprisonment.

Reading from the 453-page judgement, Sheikh Hasina has been convicted on multiple counts including the shooting and killing of six unarmed protesters in Dhaka’s

Chankharpul on August 5 last year. But, in a statement, she called it a “rigged tribunal” and alleged it to be “politically motivated”.

“Despite its name, there is nothing international about the ICT; nor is it in any way impartial. Its agenda should be evident to anyone who considers the following incontrovertible facts: its guilty verdict against me was a foregone conclusion. But no genuinely respected or professional jurist in the world would endorse the Bangladesh ICT,” Hasina said.

But why does Hasina think ICT is politically motivated?

Sources close to her point to the haste with which the trial has taken place. It is the “quickest criminal trial” in the history of Bangladesh, they said.

On June 26, the defence counsel was appointed on her behalf by the court. It called no witnesses and completed the trial in what the sources termed as “exceptional haste”. The judgment was delivered on November 17, which is a total of 143 calendar days, they said.

Criminal trials in Bangladesh generally take a long time on average – much longer than in many other jurisdictions. According to Prothom Alo, the leading Bengali daily, trials in murder cases last more than 10 years on an average. The Dhaka Tribune, another Bangladeshi news website, noted that “normal” criminal cases span five to 10 years in the country.

“A significant challenge lies in the delayed distribution of justice because the Supreme Court shows that there are currently 4.2 million pending cases in 2023. The normal length of cases spans from five to 10 years while undertrial prisoners generally remain incarcerated longer than their later awarded sentences”, the news report said.

In Hasina’s case, however, it framed charges against the accused on July 10. Proceedings began on August 4 with the testimony from the first prosecution witness. After the arguments closed on October 23, the tribunal fixed November 13 for setting the judgment date. On that day, November 17 was decided to be the ‘verdict day’ – an unusual pace if one compares with Bangladesh’s criminal justice system.