Court Correspondent :
More 64 leaders and activists of BNP and its front organizations were sentenced to different prison terms on Sunday in four cases filed in 2013 and 2018 in connection with political violence in the capital.
With this, at least 1,013 BNP-Jamaat men have been jailed since November 7 this year in 57 cases lodged between June 2011 and November 2018 on charges ofillegal gathering on the streets, rioting, damaging properties, arson attacks on vehicles, vandalism, and assaulting police and obstructing them from discharging duties.
In a case filed with Kotwali Police Station in September 2018, eight leaders and activists of BNP and its front organizations were given six years’ rigorous imprisonment (RI) by a Dhaka court on Sunday.
None of the convicts was present at the courtroom when the court delivered the verdict.
Reaz Ahmed, Organizing Secretary of BNP’s Kotwali unit, and Razzab Ali Pintu, Assistant Organizing Secretary of JCD central committee, are among the convicts. During the trial, eight prosecution witnesses testified in the court.
According to the case statement, a group of leaders and activists of BNP and its front organizations illegally gathered in Zindabahar Park area in Kotwali and tried to vandalize some vehicles on September 19, 2018, demanding the release of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia.
They also threw brick chunks at police, preventing them from carrying out duties.
Sub-Inspector Akter Hossain filed the case with Kotwali Police Station.
In another case, the same court imprisoned nine activists of BNP for three years’ imprisonment and two others for two years’ imprisonment over political violence in Gulshan area in September 2018.
Shahjahan Kabir Montu, Joint General Secretary of BNP’s Gulshan unit and Shariful Islam, General Secretary of JCD’s Gulshan unit, are among the convicts. Five prosecution witnesses testified before the court in the case.
According to the case statement, on September 18, 2018, a group of BNP leaders and activists demanding Khaleda Zia’s release assembled on the street in front of Confidence Centre in Gulshan’s Shahjadpur area and vandalized vehicles.
