Int'l Crimes Tribunal-1
Zia was at Ramgarh till May 2 in 1971
Says prosecution witness
Major Ziaur Rahman had left Kalurghat Shadhin Bangla Biplobi Betar Kendra on March 30, 1971 after the Pakistani army destroyed it with bombs and stayed at Ramgarh Post Office till May 2 that year.
A prosecution witness, Sirajul Islam alias Shiru Bangalee, provided the information before the International Crimes Tribunal-1 yesterday.
The defence counsel was cross-examining Sirajul in the case against the detained BNP lawmaker, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, who is facing 23 counts of crimes against humanity charges at the tribunal.
The chief of the defence counsels, Ahsanul Huq Hena, asked Sirajul whether he saw Zia in Kalurghat area.
The 64-year-old Sirajul, the third prosecution witness against Salauddin, said he was a freedom fighter and fought a battle in Kalurghat area from April 7 to 11 during the 1971 Liberation War.
Ramgarh Post Office is within Indian territory, prosecutor Zead-Al Malum told The Daily Star.
Sirajul's statement meant that Zia was at Ramgarh and had not taken part in the Liberation War between March 30 and May 2 of 1971, he said.
The three-judge tribunal headed by Justice Nizamul Huq will resume recording the cross examination today.
Sirajul said he had heard from one, Captain Karim, about the murder of some people at Sultanpur, Jagatmallapara, Unosatturpara and Kundeshwari by Salauddin and his men but he did know how Captain Karim died.
When Ahsanul suggested that Sirajul's name was not in any official list of freedom fighters, the latter replied, “I had not taken part in the Liberation War to get a certificate”.
Ahsanul also suggested that one, Mohammad Faruk, had filed a criminal case with Bayezid Police Station against Sirajul in 2010 and Sirajul had threatened to implicate Faruk as a war crimes accused.
Sirajul said Faruk withdrew the case after admitting his mistake.
At this, Zead said the defence can not ask such a question, which is related to any judicial proceeding, to the witness since the documents of the case are not before the tribunal.
The tribunal halted Zead, saying that it was the court's discretion on which parts of the testimony it will record.
Earlier in the day, Zead had prayed to the court to take appropriate action against Salauddin, saying that he had made a political statement to journalists the previous day to purposefully malign the tribunal.
The tribunal said it had earlier warned Salauddin several times about making any comments and if it now takes any action against him, it will have to try him in his absence, which the court does not want.
The court asked Ahsanul to control Salauddin in the court.
The tribunal-1 also recorded the cross-examination of the investigation officer in the case against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee for the 13th day yesterday. The cross-examination will continue today.
The Jamaat leader is facing 20 counts of crimes against humanity charges at the tribunal.
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