Govt to appeal against acquittal of 6 army men
The government is going to move a pending appeal in the jail killing case saying the 2008 High Court verdict acquitting six former army personnel was done without proper examination of documents and evidence.
The state counsels in a concise statement addressed to the Appellate Division termed the HC verdict "distorted and arbitrary".
Principal state counsel for the case Anisul Huq yesterday sent the statement to the Attorney General's Office to file it with the Appellate Division for hearing the appeal against the HC verdict.
The HC in its verdict on August 28, 2008 acquitted the six former military personnel from the charge of killing four national leaders -- Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmad, AHM Qamruzzaman, and Captain Mansur Ali -- inside the Dhaka Central Jail on November 3, 1975.
All of these army personnel were found guilty at the lower court on October 20, 2004. Two of them were given death sentence and the rest life-term imprisonment.
Capital punishment was handed down on Dafadar (dismissed) Marfat Ali Shah and Dafadar (dismissed) Abdul Hashem Mridha. They both are absconding.
The four sentenced to life-term were Lt Col (dismissed) Syed Farooq-ur Rahman, Lt Col (retd) Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Maj (retd) AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Maj (retd) Bazlul Huda. They were executed on January 27, 2010 in the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman assassination case.
The lower court in 2004 also gave life-term to eight others. The High Court however did not say anything about them in 2008. The eight are Lt Col (dismissed) Khondaker Abdur Rashid, Lt Col (relieved) Shariful Huq Dalim, Lt Col (retd) SHMB Noor Chowdhury, Lt Col (retd) AM Rashed Chowdhury, Maj (relieved) Ahmed Shariful Hossain, Capt (retd) Abdul Majed, Capt (relieved) Kismat Hasem and Capt (relieved) Nazmul Hossain.
In its statement yesterday, the government also urged the Appellate Division to uphold the life-term imprisonment of these eight, who are also absconding.
After the Awami League-led government assumed power, it filed a leave to appeal petition in September 2009. The Supreme Court in January next year accepted the petition and directed the two accused -- Marfat and Hashem, who were given capital punishment earlier -- to surrender before the court.
Earlier yesterday, Anisul Huq told reporters at his office the 2008 HC verdict
"denied" the nation justice in the much-talked-about case.
He said the government took much time to prepare the 25-page concise statement as they had to examine the statements made by 64 prosecution witnesses, although the Appellate Division on January 11 last year gave them one month's time to do so.
Anisul Huq said the law enforcers could not arrest Marfat and Hashem, two accused of the case, as they are now absconding abroad.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said the statement would be submitted to the SC within a few days. He said he would pray to the SC on November 4 for fixing a date for hearing the appeal.
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