BANGLADESH

Delwar Hossain Sayedee will be the first to be asked whether he admits to war crimes charges at the International Crimes Tribunal on Monday.

That is when the court will decide whether to indict the senior member of Jamaat-e-Islami for crimes against humanity including genocide, rape, arson and loot.

The prosecution proposed to charge the Jamaat executive council member with 31 counts of war crimes on Sep 3.

Sayedee's counsel, Tajul Islam said there could be two outcomes at this point. He told that the court could discharge his client if it deems the evidence insufficient.

According to the tribunal's rules of procedure, formulated in July 2010, the court could clear Sayedee of the charges if it "finds that there is no sufficient ground to presume that the accused has committed an offence" based on the prosecution's evidence and documents.

However, if the tribunal thinks that there is "sufficient ground to presume that the accused has committed an offence", it "shall frame one or more charges for the offences of which he is accused and he shall be asked whether he admits that he has committed the offence with which he is charged", according to Article 38 of the tribunal's rules.

Tajul said the court could say it will frame charges and go right into it the same day. "The court might also fix another date for the formal charge-framing."

Whatever the case, he said the charges against Sayedee will have to be read out in full after which he will be asked whether he admits to the accusations.

Article 10 of the 1973 Act, under which the tribunal is constituted, elaborates on the trial procedure and stipulates that once charges are read out, "the Tribunal shall ask each accused person whether he pleads guilty or not-guilty".

"He will naturally plead 'not guilty' and go on to state the political context of those times. My client is quite ready for that," Tajul told.

The defence counsel has reiterated his position several times saying that the charges are not specific enough and they do not conform to the tribunal's rules of procedure.

The relevant section of the rules states that a charge "must contain the name and address of the accused person, witness, and the date, time and place of the occurrence."

But prosecutor Syed Haider Ali argued that with the witness testimonies, ground reports and other material taken together, the court would find there is sufficient evidence to indict Sayedee.

Asked whether the defence had all the materials needed to proceed with the trial, Tajul Islam expressed grave reservations. "[The prosecution] conceals the materials and provides them only when it comes up in court and the court's attention is drawn to it."

Thus, Tajul said, it was not possible to say whether he had received all the material. "But of all the public material, those that I know of, I still do not have the investigation report and the court orders of the entire proceedings."

Haider Ali told that the defence would receive all the materials after indictment. "None of the materials need to be made available to them before charge-framing."

He said all the evidentiary materials have already been made available to the court.

When pointed out that the tribunal was of the opinion that the investigation report was not a document, Tajul said, "The judges are speaking out of their whims."

Tajul said the investigation report would form the basis of the charges against his client. "The investigation report, that is, if there is such a report in the first place, must be made available to the defence."

Haider retorted to Tajul's suggestion saying that there was no question of the defence getting a copy of the report. "The investigation report is a privileged document solely for the consumption of the prosecution and the court."

Sayedee is currently facing war crimes charges on 31 counts that include murder, extermination, genocide, rape, abduction, torture, complicity, abetment, loot, plunder and destruction, mostly in Pirojpur district.

Sayedee was arrested on June 30 last year on charges of hurting religious sentiments.

A deputy tax commissioner of the National Board of Revenue, Masuma Khatun filed the case on Aug 19, accusing Sayedee of evading taxes worth over Tk 5.6 million.