'If judiciary acts freely, Khaleda will be out soon'
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's lawyers may move a petition before the High Court (HC) soon, seeking bail for her in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case in which she has been sentenced to seven years' imprisonment by a lower court.
If they can secure bail in this case from the HC, they will take necessary legal steps at the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court for her bail in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case in which the HC enhanced Khaleda Zia's punishment from five years' imprisonment to 10 years.
“We are working on Zia Charitable Trust case. We will move a bail petition on behalf of Khaleda Zia before the High Court at the earliest possible time. Then we will take necessary legal steps at the Appellate Division for her bail in Zia Orphanage Trust case,” Barrister Kayser Kamal, a lawyer for Khaleda, told The Daily Star yesterday.
“If the law can take its own course, the state mechanism and government don't interfere, and the judiciary can act independently, we believe that Khaleda Zia will come out of jail very soon,” he added.
Meanwhile, Anti-Corruption Commission's lawyer Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan told this correspondent that they are ready to place arguments before the court to oppose bail for Khaleda Zia in the corruption cases.
Khaleda was convicted in Zia Charitable Trust corruption case and sentenced to seven years' rigorous imprisonment by a special court of Dhaka on October 29 last year.
On November 18 last year, she filed an appeal with the HC through her lawyers, challenging the trial court verdict.
In the appeal, she sought acquittal of the charges in the case.
The next day, the 73-year-old filed a petition with the Appellate Division, challenging the HC verdict that increased her punishment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case.
In the petition, she also sought bail in the case and stay on the High Court verdict that enhanced her punishment from five to 10 years' imprisonment.
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