Hasina's lawyers show no-trust in trial court

Awami League President Sheikh Hasina's lawyers yesterday expressed no-confidence in the trial court of MiG-29 purchase case and applied for transferring the case to another court.
The move came as Judge Golam Mortuza Majumder of Special Judge's Court, Dhaka Division, did not entertain their petition seeking adjournment of the case proceedings.
Earlier on August 20, the court had framed charges against the former prime minister and five other people in connection with the case.
The defence in their petition said the proceedings should be adjourned so long as the higher court does not dispose of an appeal that they will file against the trial court's framing charges.
Opposing the defence plea, the prosecution asked the judge to start recording the plaintiff's depositions as scheduled.
The defence again appealed for an adjournment in the midst of depositions recording, saying the higher court had stayed the proceedings against one of the accused, Nur Ali, and they would like to ensure the same for the other accused.
As the prosecution again opposed the defence bid, the court started recording the depositions turning down the defence plea.
Hasina's lawyers then submitted a 'no-confidence' prayer, following which the judge fixed September 20 for the defence to submit to it the higher court's decision on transferring the case to another court. The proceedings would be stalled till then.
Hasina's counsel advocate Sahara Khatun later explained to reporters that the actions of the judge made them suspect that they will not get justice in the current trial court.
Hasina, now in the US for medical treatment, was spared from appearing at court hearings in person on June 9.
The other accused in the case are former air force chief Jamaluddin Ahmed, former defence secretary Syed Yusuf Hossain, Air Commodore (retd) Mirza Akhter Maruf, former joint secretary Mohammad Hossain Serniabat, and Unique Group Managing Director Nur Ali.
Former army chief Gen (retd) Mustafizur Rahman was also an accused, but the court dropped his name on August 12 after his death on August 3.
The now-defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption filed the case with Tejgaon Police Station on December 11, 2001, stating that the accused caused a loss of Tk 700 crore to the state exchequer by purchasing eight MiG-29 jet fighters when the Awami League was in power.