The investigation report of the case filed against ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) for crimes against humanity committed during the July uprising submitted on Monday.
The investigation agency submitted the report to the office of the Chief Prosecutor of the Tribunal at around 11 am on Monday.
In the report, the investigating officers have brought five charges against Sheikh Hasina, including incitement, instigation and direct orders to commit genocide and murder.
Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam informed reporters at a press conference at the Tribunal in the afternoon.
"Three people, including Sheikh Hasina, have been accused as the masterminds of crimes against humanity. They are former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the then Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and the then Inspector General of Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun," the Chief Prosecutor said.
Regarding the allegations, he further said, "There was incitement and direct orders to commit crimes against humanity. Many call records, audio-videos of him have been found in this regard. In addition, there are allegations about three specific incidents".
He informed that there are five allegations of crimes against humanity against Sheikh Hasina. Two of those allegations have been made public. The rest are not being made public for now. They will be announced later.
"The first allegation against Sheikh Hasina is that she provoked and incited to commit crimes against humanity. In a press conference, she used the term 'the grandchildren of the Razakars'. By saying this, the state forces were unleashed against the students. Along with this, the Awami League, Jubo League and Chhatra League attacked the protesters to commit crimes against humanity. The charge of provocation has been raised against Sheikh Hasina for this incitement," he explained.
The second allegation was the 'direct orders'. "The investigation agency seized many telephone conversations of Hasina, where she repeatedly and clearly ordered all state forces to eliminate unarmed and innocent protesters using deadly weapons including helicopters, drones and APCs," Tajul added.
The tribunal on February 18 of this year had ordered the completion of the investigation against Sheikh Hasina by April 20 in the case of crimes against humanity in the July 18 genocide.
The time for submitting the investigation report in this case was extended three times including the last one on April 20 and the time for submitting the report was extended by two months.
The tribunal set the time for submitting the investigation report by June 24. However, the investigation agency submitted the report before that.
Apart from this case, the tribunal has two more cases against Sheikh Hasina. In one of them, she has been accused of disappearances and murders during the 15 and a half years of the Awami League regime. The other case was in connection with the killings at a Hefazat-e-Islam rally at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel in the capital.
