Bergman found guilty of contempt

David Bergman

A tribunal in Dhaka today found David Bergman, a Dhaka-based British journalist, guilty of the contempt of court for demeaning the court through his blog post on the country’s Liberation War in 1971.

The International Crimes Tribunal-2 sentenced him “simple imprisonment until the rising of the court” and also fined him TK 5,000.

The tribunal asked Bergman, the editor (special reports) of the English daily New Age, to clear the fine within the next seven days. Otherwise, he will have to serve seven days' imprisonment, the court said.

Supreme Court lawyer Abul Kalam Azad filed the contempt petition on February 18, saying Bergman made “relentless efforts to justify that the tribunal was absolutely wrong in mentioning three million deaths and the number of 200,000 women raped in 1971”.

During proceedings started on April 17, Mizan Syeed, lawyer for petitioner Abul Kalam Azad, told the court that Bergman through his write-ups posted on November 11, 2011 and January 28, 2013 maligned the dignity of the tribunal and tended it and its members into public hatred.

The International Crimes Tribunal-1 on October 3, 2011 in its indictment order in the case against Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee mentioned the figures.

Bergman was present at the courtroom when the three-member panel led by its Chairman Justice Obaidul Hassan pronounced the verdict today.

After the verdict, Bergman’s lawyer Mustafizur Rahman Khan said they will decide on further move after getting the copy of the verdict.

Talking to reporters, petitioner’s counsel Mizan Syeed said no one will dare to question about Liberation War following the verdict.

 “The judgement has curbed people’s freedom of speech,” Bergman’s wife said after the verdict was delivered.