Bangladesh war crimes trial to take shape by Mar 26

The state minister for law, Quamrul Islam, on Sunday said that war crimes trial would take a shape by March 26 and the government would adhere to international standards at any cost.
‘We are will hold the trial at the earliest. So do expect the people. But we are trying to hold the trial without any flaw by adhering to international standards. The investigation is taking time as we do not want to leave any scope for questions about the trial in the future,’ he said.
‘You should keep in mind that we are holding trial of crimes that took place 40 years ago. So it calls for proper investigation and this is why the process is getting lengthy,’ he said.
Quamrul said whether war crimes trial could begin by March 26 depends on the development of investigation.
He said the investigation team of the International Crimes Tribunal would soon get 30 more policemen to assist in the work.
‘Ten inspectors, 10 subinspectors and 10 constables will soon be appointed to assist the investigation team,’ Qamrul said after the meeting.
The meeting was convened to ensure proper logistic support and coordination of the work of the prosecution panel and the investigation team.
Quamrul said they sat with the precaution and the investigation agency of the International Crimes Tribunal to meet their demands for logistic support.
He said that the investigators’ demand for allocation of a building for interrogating the war crimes suspects would be met immediately.
The meeting began with the law minister, Shafique Ahmed, and the home minister, Sahara Khatun, being present but the both left a few minutes after asking others to continue.
The state minister for home, Shamsul Haque Tuku, the home secretary, Abdus Sobhan Sikder, the law secretary, Sahidul Karim, the chief prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal, Golam Arif Tipu, and the chief investigator, Abdul Mannan Khan, also attended.
The prosecution and the investigation team at the meeting resented the lack of logistic support for the tribunal.
Shamsul Haque asked them to submit a list of what they need right at the meeting if the government support was not enough for them.
Read the original story on the daily New Age