UN report on July massacre to be used as key evidence: Tajul
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Thursday filed a complaint with the office of the chief prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal seeking justice over the reported killings of 848 party activists and their relatives during the July-August mass uprising in 2024.
BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, in his complaint, accused deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her cabinet colleagues, leaders of the Awami League and its affiliated groups, as well as high-ranking bureaucrats, officials of the intelligence agencies, police and Border Guard Bangladesh, and Ansar members of orchestrating a violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators.
Chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam, on the other hand, said on Thursday that the United Nations Human Rights Commission鈥檚 fact-finding report on the July massacre would serve as irrefutable evidence in the upcoming trial.
The BNP, in its complaint, alleged that law enforcement agencies and security forces carried out indiscriminate shootings, hurled explosives, grenades, and tear gas, and used other lethal measures against protesters between July 1, 2024 and August 5, 2024.
The BNP alleged that the killings and violence amounted to crimes against humanity and genocide, as part of a broader effort to suppress and dismantle the BNP as a political force. The party urged the chief prosecutor to formally register the complaint as a tribunal case and initiate an investigation through the designated agency.
The party further claimed that the attacks were carried out until Sheikh Hasina鈥檚 fall and her fleeing to India on August 5, 2024.
According to the complaint, over 2,000 people, including 848 BNP activists and their relatives, were killed in the nationwide crackdown.
It alleged that between 30,000 and 35,000 people, including over 5,000 BNP leaders and activists, sustained injuries during the movement.
The charges were brought against Sheikh Hasina, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, former Law Minister Anisul Huq, former Inspector General of Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, and Rapid Action Battalion鈥檚 former director general, among others.
Speaking to journalists, BNP leader Md Salauddin Khan, who coordinates cases related to enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and political repression, claimed that of the 848 people killed, 524 were BNP activists and the rest of them were their family members.
As supporting evidence, the BNP submitted copies of 85 First Information Reports detailing the deaths of its activists, a recorded video, and a 118-page list documenting the names of those killed.
This petition follows a separate complaint the BNP filed on January 9, in which the party accused law enforcement agencies of killing 2,276 of its members in crossfire and forcibly disappearing 153 others during the Awami League regime. That petition also implicated Sheikh Hasina and law enforcement officials.
According to a source in the ICT鈥檚 investigation agency, they were now investigating 27 cases by merging a total of 190 complaints.
The prosecution, however, is yet to file formal charges in any of the cases.
Speaking at a press conference at his office, chief prosecutor Tajul said that the report, released from Geneva on Wednesday by The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, directly implicates the ousted prime minister and Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, in the violent suppression of student-led protests.
According to the report, Hasina ordered security forces to kill protesters and conceal their bodies to quell the nationwide demonstrations.
鈥楾his is a clear and compelling piece of evidence of crimes against humanity,鈥� Tajul said.
He further noted that the report also implicated Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan in the killings.
