Trial of war criminals
On 29/10/07, I believe many people were surprised to hear from the law adviser an amazing question: “How do you expect us to put on trial these people for something done 36 years ago?”
Did he carefully avoid saying: '…….something done by them……'?
Those elements in society are now going even further by claiming that nobody opposed the emergence of a free Bangladesh.
Justice Mostafa Kamal, in response to Jamaat General Secretary Ali Ahsan Mujahid's recent statement, said, “Next we will hear there never was a war of independence.”
The law adviser's comment, however, is even more of a surprise given his current position and legal background.
In Italy, a court recently convicted around 20 people, many over 80 years of age, for crimes against humanity and special war crimes during the Second World War, over 60 years ago.
Other war crimes from Nazi regime have also been tried this century for their action during that war. Since Nuremberg, the Nazi party has been banned in Germany.
During Helmut Kohl's era a group of people tried to float a 'neo-Nazi' party. Rightly it was banned because it was decided that the prefix 'neo' did not constitute a new party but a successor of the old party, adhering to the same principles.
It is my understanding that any war criminal, if sentenced to more than 2 years, could never participate in public life again.
I would add that one of the Nuremberg rulings demanded that any individual, party or organisation accused of a war crime had to be cleared by the appropriate authorities, before being allowed to continue in public life, or be considered an abettor. If the law adviser is unaware of these important legal precedents, I would like to highlight them here.
In Bangladesh, so many murders, rapes and other terrible war crimes are already documented. Let a court or tribunal now uncover the facts and circumstances of who was responsible for what action.
Legal experts, such as Dr. M Zahir, have stated that Sheikh Mujib's declaration of general amnesty does not necessarily provide an ongoing legal basis for prohibiting the trial of 1971 war criminals.
The law adviser of the current administration must be aware of this.
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