UNB, Dhaka: The International Crimes Tribunal -2 on Thursday asked 23 noted citizens to appear before the tribunal on April 29 to explain their concern over the conviction of Dhaka-based British journalist David Bergman in a contempt of court charge against a war crimes tribunal. ICT-2 judge Obedul Hasan passed the order. Earlier on April 1, the tribunal issued a rule asking them to explain why punitive action would not be taken against them on contempt charge. They were asked to respond to the rule by April 23. Advocate Asaduzzaman, lawyer of the noted citizens, filed a petition seeking four weeks to respond to the rule. Turning down the petition, the tribunal asked them to appear before it on April 29. On December 2 last year, the tribunal after a lengthy hearing convicted David Bergman, also son in-law of noted jurist Dr Kamal Hossain, president of Gono Forum and a former minister, and sentenced him to a symbolic jail term with a fine and accordingly the convict-contemnor served the sentence and paid the fine. On December 20 last year, the Prothom Alo, a vernacular daily, published the statement titled, ’50 citizens express concern punishing Bergman’. Later, Khushi Kabir, one of the signatories, retracted her name from the impugned statement.
