Bangladesh began the first trial on Sunday at a special court prosecuting former senior figures connected to the ousted government of Sheikh Hasina.
The court in the capital Dhaka accepted a formal charge against eight police officials in connection with the killing of six protesters on Aug 5 last year, the day Sheikh Hasina fled the country as the protesters stormed her palace.
The eight men are charged with crimes against humanity. Four are in custody and four are being tried in absentia.
“The formal trial has begun,” Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor of Bangladesh’s domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), told reporters. “The prosecution believes that this prosecution will be able to prove the crimes done by the accused,” he said.
It is the first formal charge in any case related to the killings during last year’s student-led uprising, which ended Hasina’s iron-fisted rule of 15 years.
Up to 1,400 people were killed in July and August last year when Hasina’s government launched a brutal campaign to silence the protesters, according to the United Nations.
The list of those facing trial includes Dhaka’s former police commissioner, Habibur Rahman, who is among those being tried in absentia.
Hasina fled by helicopter to India, her old ally.
She remains in self-imposed exile, defying Dhaka’s extradition request to face charges of crimes against humanity.
Command responsibility
The launch of the trials of senior figures from Hasina’s government is a key demand of several of the political parties now jostling for power as the South Asian nation awaits elections that the interim government has vowed will take place before June next year.
Islam said the eight men were accused of “different responsibilities”, including the most senior for “superior command responsibility, some for direct orders.. (and) some for participation”.