A lawmaker of Bangladesh's ruling Awami League party was today accused of committing war crimes during the country's 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan.
"The Cognizance Court No-2 of senior judicial magistrate Mahbubul Haque received the case against lawmaker Muslem Uddin and referred it to the ICT-BD (International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh) for subsequent legal procedures," a court official told reporters.
According to the complaint, Uddin, who is in his early 60s, was elected as a member of then Pakistan Provincial Assembly in 1970 elections on an Awami League ticket but sided with the Pakistani troops as the Liberation War broke out.
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70-year old war veteran Jalaluddin has alleged that the lawmaker also worked as an informer of the Pakistani Army and led anti-liberation elements in torching many houses in the neighbourhood at Phulbaria area of Mymensingh.
Officials of the ICT-BD's prosecution cell said they would now launch an investigation into the complaint and would put the lawmaker on trial if the allegations were found valid.
Uddin is the third from the ruling Awami League to be accused of committing war crimes. One of them was handed down death penalty and the case is now pending with the Supreme Court for an appeal hearing.
The second person awaits the start of trial. But among the three, Uddin is the only high profile Awami League leader to be accused of war crimes charges.
Bangladesh so far has witnessed the execution of six 1971 war crimes convicts since the process began in 2010. Five of them were stalwarts of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, which was opposed to the country's independence.
Three convicts were sentenced to "imprisonment until death" and two of them died in jail.
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