Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal postponed by six days the verdict against eight policemen accused of crimes against humanity during the 2024 student-led protests, setting January 26 as the new date.
Separately, the interim government decided not to renew British lawyer Toby Cadman’s contract as a prosecution adviser, with conflicting accounts over whether he resigned or declined an extension.
Bangladesh Tribunal Defers Verdict Against Eight Policemen Over 2024 Protest Killings
The case involves the killing of six people, with four of the accused, including two senior police officers, being tried in absentia.
Summary
Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) on Tuesday postponed for six days the verdict against eight policemen accused of crimes against humanity over the killing of six people during the violent student-led protests of 2024.
“We are sorry. The verdict has not been prepared. The judgment in the case will be pronounced on January 26,” said Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder, chairman of the three-judge tribunal.
The ICT-BD had earlier scheduled January 20 for the verdict against Dhaka’s then police commissioner Habibur Rahman, former joint commissioner Sudip Kumar Chakraborty and six others. Four of the accused, including the two senior officers, are being tried in absentia.
Trials involving several ministers from the previous government, as well as leaders of Sheikh Hasina’s now-disbanded Awami League, are currently underway before the tribunal.
Separately, the tribunal’s chief prosecutor Tajul Islam said the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus had decided not to renew the contract of international criminal law expert Toby Cadman as a “special adviser” to the prosecution team, amid reports suggesting the British lawyer had resigned.
Islam said Cadman had neither resigned nor stepped down, but had instead approached the Law Ministry to seek clarity on whether the interim government intended to renew his contract, which expired on November 19.
“There is no question of resignation or stepping down,” Islam told reporters amid speculation over Cadman’s exit.
British freelance journalist and rights activist David Bergman, however, said in a Facebook post on Monday that Cadman had informed him his contract ended in November and that he declined an offer of extension.
“My contract expired in November and I was offered an extension but I decided not to extend it. It would not be appropriate to make any comment as to reasons for stepping down,” Bergman quoted Cadman as saying.
Cadman is joint head of the London-based law firm Guernica 37. He had earlier worked on ICT-BD proceedings in Dhaka in 2011 as an adviser to the defence team, when the former government was prosecuting alleged collaborators of Pakistani forces during the 1971 Liberation War.
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(with PTI inputs)
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