Sluggish progress in grenade attack trial

The testimony of only one-fifth of the witnesses in Aug 21, 2004 grenade attack trials have been recorded in the last five years.

The grenade attack left many Awami league leaders and activists killed and present Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with damaged hearing.

A Dhaka court that is trying the case has heard out only 99 prosecution witnesses so far out of the listed 491.

They include late president Zillur Rahman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, former home minister Sahara Khatun and Awami League's former general secretary late Abdul Jalil.

Chief prosecutor Syed Rezaur Rahman blamed the defence for deliberate waste of time, but the prosecution's failure to produce witnesses for court hearings was also apparent.

The state has appointed eleven lawyers including Rahman to lead the trial, but most of them do not attend the hearings regularly.

Rahman, however, said that they were hopeful of finishing the prosecution hearing by August next year, saying 'unnecessary' witnesses would be excluded to speed up the trial.

"To delay the verdict, defence lawyers are asking irrelevant questions to prosecution witnesses. They are also making unnecessary suggestions during the trial," Rahman told bdnews24.com on Wednesday.

Most of the accused have also been charged in other cases, and are often taken to different parts of the country for those trials, delaying the grenade-attack case even further, according to Rahman.

But, defence lawyers say the trials are delayed because the ruling party is 'trying to mix politics, investigation and litigation'.

The chief prosecutor, however, says: "We hope to end the hearing by Aug 21 next year. For that we will not present unnecessary witnesses before the court."

The reality is that apart from Rahman, no other prosecutors attend the hearings regularly.

The law ministry's solicitor wing appointed the eleven prosecutors in 2008, which include ruling party leaders Sahara Khatun and Quamrul Islam.

Both of them became ministers and obviously could not continue with the case.

Khatun is, however, not a minister anymore while one of the prosecutors, Shamsuddin Nilu died.

The other prosecutors are Kazi Sarwar Hossain, Khandaker Abdul Hannan, Kazi Nazib Ullyah Hiru, Md Ali Hossain, Abdullah Abu, Mokhlesur Rahman Badal, Abdur Rahman Hawlader, Sanjida Khanam, Abdus Sattar Dulal and Fazilatunnesa Bappi.

Some of them now work for the war crimes trial while some others have gone on to become MP from seats  reserved for women.

The case accused 52 persons, 19 of whom are absconding. The state appointed 15 lawyers for them.

Bangladesh Mohila Awami League President Ivy Rahman and 23 other leaders and activists were killed and over 500 injured in that attack in front of the Awami League headquarters on August 21, 2004.

Investigation revealed that the main target of that attack was Sheikh Hasina.

Four years after the attacks, a CID official pressed charges in the case on June 11, 2008, naming 22 individuals.

Later on July 3, 2011, CID officer Abdul Kahhar Akand submitted a supplementary charge sheet after additional investigation.

BNP senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman, Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, former BNP state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, BNP MP Shah Mofazzal Hossain Kaykobad and BNP chief Khaleda Zia's political advisor Haris Chowdhury were among the 30 charged afresh in the case.