Charges pressed against 3 Bagerhat 'Razakars'
The prosecution today pressed eight charges against three war crime accused for their alleged crimes against humanity in Bagerhat during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.
The accused are Sheikh Sirajul Haque alias Siraj Master, 72, Khan Akram Hossain, 61, and Abdul Latif Talukdar, 68.
The trio joined the Razakar Bahini, an auxiliary force of the Pakistani occupation army, in 1971 and committed killing, mass killing, rape, looting, arson and forced conversion, according to the prosecution.
Prosecutor Syed Sayedul Haque Suman today submitted the formal charges, investigation report and other relevant documents to the International Crimes Tribuanl-1 through its registrar’s office around 2:30pm, reports our correspondent.
Of the accused, Latif and Akram were arrested on June 10 and June 20 respectively, while Sirajul, who went into hiding after the issuance of his arrest warrant by the tribunal, was arrested on July 21.
On August 25, the investigation agency of International Crimes Tribunal submitted the final probe report to the Chief Prosecutor's Office of International Crimes Tribunal.
ASP Helal Uddin, the investigation officer, began the probe on May 21, 2013.
PROBE FINDINGS
Among the eight charges, four have been brought against Sirajul alone for the killing 666 people, two against all of them for the killing of 47 people and two against Khan Akram and Abdul Latif for converting 200 Hindus and killing a person.
According to the probe report, Sirajul on May 13, 1971 was involved in the killing of 40 to 50 people of Hindu Community at Ranjitpur in the district. Their houses were also plundered.
On May 21, 1971, an armed group killed around 600 to 700 Hindus when several thousand Hindu men gathered at Kalimandir in Dakra of Rampal of the district in order to go to refugee camps in India.
Nineteen civilians of Besorgati and Kandapara under Bagerhat Sadar Police Station were detained, tortured and killed on June 18, 1971. Sirajul is found to have been involved in the killings, the probe report reads.
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