Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Zafrullah Chowdhury will not pay fines for contempt of court

Having been made to stand in the dock as punishment for contempt of court, Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Zafrullah Chowdhury is refusing to pay the fine he has been slapped with.

He says the verdict by the International Crimes Tribunal-2 is a ‘result of mental illness’ of the three judges – a comment that may see him again run foul of the court.

On Wednesday, the ICT-2, led by Justice Obaidul Hassan, issued the verdict against 23 people over their statement of concern over British citizen and journalist David Bergman’s conviction.

The tribunal ordered Chowdhury to stand in the dock for an hour and fined him Tk 5,000.

It said he would serve one month in jail if he did not pay the fines.

The 22 others were warned and spared of punishment since it was their first instance of contempt of court.

The ICT-2 issued a rule against the 23 persons over the contempt of court on Apr 1.

After the verdict on Wednesday, Zafrullah Chowdhury refused to stand in the dock before getting a copy of the verdict.

The other respondents to the rule made a noise in the court room at the time.

Accompanied by some others, they left the room and stood in front of it afterwards.

Chowdhury stood in the dock after getting a copy of the verdict at 12:49pm.

After standing for an hour, he left the court room at 1:49pm and reacted in front of the media.

He reiterated his observation on the mental health of the judges, whose orders to hang war criminals Abdul Quader Molla and Mohammad Kamaruzzaman have been executed.

“There cannot be justice where judges cannot tolerate criticism,” Zafrullah Chowdhury said.

“When they cannot tolerate criticism, when they cannot reason, they hide themselves behind the law. 

“There is something to be grasped about this case. Three things need to be proved in a contempt of court case - scandalising the court, obstruction of the administration of justice, and undermining the court’s dignity.

“In the verdict, the judges did not specify where we, especially I, erred. The three judges, having no logic, have been expressing their anger from the beginning to date,” Chowdhury said.

The Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder said ordering a convict to stand in the dock is ‘discourteous’.

“It is primitive, medieval. But they made me stand.”

Chowdhury also said he will appeal against the verdict.

“I said ‘you please stay the verdict so that I can appeal in the higher court’. They did not give me the chance and left the court quickly,” he said

Asked if he risked being in contempt of court again should he decide not to pay the fines, he said, “I will not pay the fines. I’ll appeal and see what happens then.”

Zafrullah Chowdhury insisted ‘making criticism is his democratic right’.

“It can’t be that I cannot comment on the country for whose freedom I fought,” he said.

About the delay he made to stand in the dock, he said, “If the higher court finds that the verdict against me was wrong, can it give the time back to me? Or will the three judges sit in the dock for an hour where I stood?”

The founder of Gonoshasthaya Kendra also claimed the verdict betrayed only anger.

About the conviction of Bergman, he said he had been disgraced in 31 of 105 paragraphs of the verdict.

“However, it was about the number of the martyrs of the Liberation War. There was no directive on it,” he said.

“We, those who issued the statement, wanted to say that there is need for talks for the sake of the country’s democracy,” he added.