Sawt Falasteen - Bangladesh to open trial of fugitive ex-PM

Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter to her old ally India in August 2024 at the culmination of a student-led mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule, and has defied an extradition order to return to Dhaka.

"The prosecution team ... is set to submit charges against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina," said Gazi MH Tamim, one of the prosecutors.

Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024 when Hasina's government launched a brutal campaign to silence the protesters, according to the United Nations.

The domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is prosecuting former senior figures connected to the ousted government of Hasina and her now-banned Awami League party.

The prosecution of senior figures from Hasina's government is a key demand of several of the political parties now jostling for power. The interim government has vowed to hold elections before June 2026.

The hearing is expected to be broadcast live on state-owned Bangladesh Television.

Prosecutors submitted their report into the case against Hasina last month with the court on Sunday expected to open proceedings by issuing formal charges.

ICT chief prosecutor Tajul Islam said on May 12 that Hasina faces at least five charges, including "abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy and failure to prevent mass murder during the July uprising".

Investigators have collected video footage, audio clips, Hasina's phone conversations, records of helicopter and drone movements, as well as statements from victims of the crackdown as part of their probe.

Hasina remains in self-imposed exile in India and has defied an arrest warrant and extradition orders from Dhaka to face trial in person.

She has rejected the charges as politically motivated.

The same case is also expected to include former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun. They face similar charges.

The ICT court opened its first trial connected to the previous government on May 25. In that case, eight police officials face charges of crimes against humanity over the killing of six protesters on August 5, the day Hasina fled the country.

Four of the officers are in custody and four are being tried in absentia.

The ICT was set up by Hasina in 2009 to investigate crimes committed by the Pakistani army during Bangladesh's war for independence in 1971.

It sentenced numerous prominent political opponents to death and became widely seen as a means for Hasina to eliminate rivals.

A.AbuSaada--SF-PST