Bergman guilty of contempt

The International Crimes Tribunal-2 has found journalist David Bergman guilty of contempt. ICT-2 Chairman Obaidul Hasan on Tuesday ordered the British national to stand in court until the proceedings end. He was also fined Tk 5,000 – failing to pay which will lead to 7 days in prison. Bergman, a Dhaka-based British journalist, was present before the court when the 3-member panel led by Justice Obaidul Hassan pronounced the verdict. Supreme Court lawyer Abul Kalam Azad filed the contempt petition on February 18, saying Bergman made ‘relentless efforts to justify that the tribunal was absolutely wrong in mentioning three million deaths and the number of 200,000 women raped in 1971. During proceedings started on April 17, Mizan Syeed, lawyer for petitioner Abul Kalam Azad, said Bergman through his write-ups posted on November 11, 2011 and January 28, 2013 maligned the dignity of the tribunal and tended it and its members into public hatred, according to a news agency.