The government on Thursday constituted a second International Crimes Tribunal appointing retired High Court judge Justice Md Nozrul Islam Chowdhury as its chairman.
The second tribunal was constituted amid a reported surge in crimes against humanity cases related to the July-August mass uprising and enforced disappearances, and other crimes committed in the 15 years of the Awami League regime.
According to a gazette notification issued by the law ministry, two other members of the newly formed tribunal, designated as ICT-2, are retired district and sessions judge Md Munjurul Basid and incumbent Madaripur district and sessions judge Nur Mohammad Shahriar Kabir.
The tribunal will work in addition to the existing tribunal, now officially named as ICT-1, chaired by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder.
On March 25, 2010, the then AL-led government constituted an International Crimes Tribunal for holding trial of individuals who committed genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. As the number of war crimes cases increased, the ICT-2 was created on March 22, 2012.
However, the ICT-2 was made non-functional on September 15, 2015.
The two tribunals had disposed of 55 cases, mostly against Jamaat-e-Islami leaders.
The lone tribunal, the ICT-1, became inactive after the retirement of its chairman Justice Md Abu Ahmed Jamadar in June 2024.
To revive the tribunal after the July-August mass uprising that ousted the Awami League regime, the government reconstituted the ICT-1 on October 14, 2024.
Lawyer Mohammad Tajul Islam, who had earlier defended Jamaat leaders in the tribunal, was appointed the chief prosecutor at the reconstituted ICT on September 5, 2024.
The home ministry restructured the tribunal鈥檚 investigation agency on September 18, 2024.
The tribunal is now dealing with cases related to offences during the mass uprising and enforced disappearance and crimes committed during the AL regime and most of the accused in the cases are the leaders of the Awami League, including AL president and deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her cabinet members, and former officials of the law enforcement agencies during the AL regime.
The tribunal鈥檚 investigation agency is now probing 34 cases involving 167 accused individuals.
So far, 45 people, mostly police officers, have been arrested, and 33 of them were shown arrested in cases related to the mass uprising.
Investigators have completed probes in one case, and the prosecution is preparing formal charges in the case.
The tribunal has received 250 complaints related to the uprising.
Despite ongoing proceedings for uprising-related cases, war crimes trials remain stagnant.
The tribunal continues to summon accused individuals in 1971 war crimes cases, but hearings are repeatedly deferred.
Prosecutor Tamim Gazi Monwar Hossain, who previously defended 1971 war crimes suspects, stated that the delay in war crimes trials was happening as new prosecutors were preparing their cases.
He alleged that former prosecutors, aligned with the Awami League, fled after August 5, 2024 without handing over the case files.
A tribunal official said that, before the mass uprising, 30 war crimes cases against 113 suspects were under investigation.
As of March 27, 2025, a total of 60 individuals remained in jail for committing war crimes during the country鈥檚 liberation war. 46 of the detained individuals were sentenced to death, 13 were sentenced to varying jail terms and one is now under trial.
In December 2024, the number was 64, of whom 45 received the death penalty, 13 got different jail terms and six were under trial.
After the August 5, 2024 political changeover, five war crimes suspects were granted bail.
The appellate process has also stalled, with at least 30 appeals by war crimes convicts pending in the Appellate Division since 2013.
