Verdict on Khokon Razakar any day

MA Zahid Hossain Khokon

A tribunal in Dhaka will deliver its verdict in the war crimes case against fugitive BNP leader MA Zahid Hossain Khokon any day as the trial proceedings concluded today.
Khokon, assumed to be living in Sweden with his son and daughter, faces 11 charges of killing, genocide, torture, abduction and confinement during the Liberation War in 1971.
The International Crimes Tribunal-1 led by Justice M Enayetur Rahim made the announcement of keeping Khokon’s verdict CAV (Curia Advisari Vult), meaning the verdict will be delivered any day.
During today’s hearing, Prosecutor Mokhlesur Rahman Badal sought capital punishment for the accused while defence counsel Abdus Shukur Khan claimed that Khokon was not involved in any war crimes against humanity during the country's Liberation War.
Khokon, 70, also the incumbent mayor of Nagarkanda municipality in Faridpur, was a local leader of Razakar in the district during 1971 war.
A close associate of Abul Kalam Azad, a condemned war criminal from Faridpur, Khokon had taken part in an election campaign for a Jamaat-e-Islami candidate in 1970.
He was involved with Jamaat and later joined BNP. As the vice-president of Nagarkanda unit BNP, Khokon contested the municipality election in 2011 and became mayor.
After taking the oath, he went into hiding and the agency “assumed” that he is now in Sweden with his son and daughter.
The tribunal accepted the charges against him on July 18 last year and indicted him on October 9.
The prosecution on June 23, 2013 submitted the charges against Khokon to the ICT-1 through its registrar’s office.
The investigation agency formed to probe war crimes completed investigation into Khokon’s alleged war crimes on May 29, 2013.