11yrs elapse, trial of Aug21 grenade attack cases still to end

Although 11 years have elapsed since the incident, trial of the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka is still to be completed. Meanwhile, the prosecution hopes to complete the trial by this year. “The trial in two cases filed in connection with the August 21 grenade attack is going on quickly. We hope verdicts will be delivered this year on completion of the trial,” said chief prosecutor of the cases Advocate Syed Rezaur Rahman. The grenade attack in 2004 on the rally of the then opposition party at Bangabandhu Avenue during the BNP-led four-party regime left over 100 dead and more than 500 injured. 24 AL leaders, including the AL’s women affairs secretary and wife of late President Zillur Rahman Ivy Rahman, died in the heinous attack on a peaceful public rally. At least 13 grenades were thrown from the rooftops of nearby buildings soon after the then opposition party leader Sheikh Hasina finished her speech. Among the 491 witnesses in both the cases, the trial court has recorded the statements of 176 till Wednesday (August 19, 2015) since the beginning of the trial in 2008. The two cases were filed in connection with the blasts – one under the Explosive Substances Act and the other for murder of people. On June 9, 2008, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) pressed charges against BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu, Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (Huji) chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and 20 others in the cases. The trial began in the same year. In the meantime, AL formed the government in 2009 and submitted petitions on August 3, 2009, for further investigation into the cases. Following the pleas, the court ordered the CID for further investigation into the cases. Later on July 3, 2011, the CID submitted supplementary charge-sheets against 30 people, including BNP senior vice chairman Tarique Rahman, former State Minister for Home Lutfozzaman Babar, BNP leader Harris Chowdhury and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed. On March 18, 2012, the court framed charges against Tarique Rahman and others. The second trial commenced on the following month. The trial against 52 accused in the two cases is being held simultaneously with Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 at the makeshift court at a building near the gate of Dhaka Central Jail, according to a news agency.
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