BartaBangla Report :: The International Crimes Tribunal-1 on Wednesday formally closed law-point arguments from both sides in the trial of the war crimes allegedly perpetrated by detained BNP MP Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, keeping the verdict pending for any day. Declaring the summing-up arguments closed, Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, chairman of the three-member tribunal, kept the case as a CAV.
Earlier on Tuesday, the tribunal allowed an hour more till 11:30 am Wednesday to the defence counsel for the BNP stalwart to finish summing-up arguments.
On July 24, after closing the evidence of the defence witness, the tribunal decided to go for the phase of summing–up arguments allocating three working days for the prosecution and four working days for the defence.
Later, the tribunal allowed one more day for the prosecution as they failed to complete their summing-up arguments within the timeframe.
Salauddin Quader faces trial on 23 counts of charges under different provisions of section 3 (2) of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973.
The charges include abduction and murdering civilians, collaborating with the Pakistani occupation army to kill and torture unarmed people, genocide, looting of valuables and torching of houses and other properties, persecuting people on religious and political grounds, and committing atrocities on the Hindus in Chittagong districts.
According to the charges, Salauddin Quader, also a former minister during General HM Ershad’s military rule, was involved in the killing of more than 200 people, including that of Nutan Chandra Singh, founder of Kundeshwari Oushadhalaya, of Gahira in Rauzan of Chittagong.
On April 4 last year, the tribunal indicted the detained accused for his alleged involvement in crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.