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Friday | October 09, 2026 | Dhaka

Witness alleges killings, staged probes under Ziaul

The 15th witness describes "controlled system" used to hide perpetrators of extrajudicial killings
 Staff Reporter
 Published: 12:01 AM, 09 October 2026

An investigation officer told the International Crimes Tribunal-1 on Wednesday that staged administrative inquiries and fabricated post-mortem reports were used to give legitimacy to extrajudicial killings and keep the real perpetrators hidden, as he described the alleged grip of Major General (retd) Ziaul Ahsan on the justice system.

“Whenever an extrajudicial killing came to public attention, a staged administrative investigation would be arranged to give it legitimacy,” Investigation Officer (IO) Md Rafiqul Islam said before the single-member bench presided over by Judge Md Mohitul Haque Enam Chowdhury. “This controlled system was used to keep the actual perpetrators hidden.”

Rafiqul, the 15th witness, was testifying for the third day. He said doctors were forced to conceal the actual causes of victims’ deaths after extrajudicial killings, and that an institutional culture had been created to protect perpetrators through false post-mortem and police reports.

Earlier, in testimony that began on September 30, the IO presented evidence from the case and details of visits to the crime scenes.

On September 27, the 14th witness, Kamrul Islam, presented details of evidence seized from various locations. On the same day, cross-examination of the 13th witness, former RAB officer Major (retd) Sabbir Rahman, was completed.

Ziaul Ahsan faces three specific charges of crimes against humanity.

The first concerns the killing of three people beside a road in Pubail, under Gazipur Sadar police station, on the night of July 11, 2011, allegedly in his direct presence.

The second concerns the killing of 50 people at the mouth of the Baleshwar River adjoining Char Duani Union in Patharghata upazila of Barguna between 2010 and 2013.

The third covers the same period, when another 50 people were allegedly killed under the guise of “suppression of forest bandits” in various parts of the Sundarbans along the Baleshwar River in Barguna and in Sharankhola of Bagerhat.

The prosecution submitted the formal charge on December 17 last year, and the tribunal took cognisance of it. On December 23, it ordered that he be shown arrested in the case and sent to jail.

The tribunal has set Sunday (October 11) for the continuation of testimony, after which the remaining testimony will be taken.