Ex-Jamaat chief indicted for war crimes in 1971 Bangladesh war
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"The International Crimes Tribunal indicted Prof Ghulam Azam for five types of crimes he committed during 1971 Liberation War" fighting with the Pakistani troops, prosecuting lawyer Syed Rezaur Rahman told a news agency.
"The
charges has been framed against you on the basis of the chargesheet,"
chairman of the three-judge panel of International Crimes Tribunal
Justice Mohammad Nizamul Huq told Azam after the fundamentalist leader
was brought to the dock from the prison on a wheelchair under heavy
security.
The
tribunal read out the 61 charges against Azam under five categories
including conspiracy, planning, incitement, complicity and murder during
the nine-month war.
The panel set June 5 for starting trial against Azam, who pleaded not guilty after the charges were read out to him.
Azam
was the former chief of Jamaat-e-Islami in the then East Pakistan wing
of the fundamentalist party and provincial minister under the Pakistani
junta in 1971.
The
prosecution earlier described him as the "key collaborator" of the then
Pakistani junta alleging he masterminded the alleged atrocities
including genocides or mass murders of Bengalis during the Liberation
War.
According
to the Bangladeshi authorities, up to three million people were killed
in the bloody war. Azam rejected the charges calling them "politically
motivated" as the tribunal asked him if was "guilty or not"."I
don't think myself guilty," said Azam, who has been kept at the prison
cell of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University since his arrest on
January 11, 2012.
Azam's
party opposed Bangladesh's 1971 independence with many of its activists
joining the auxiliary forces of the Pakistani troops.
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