Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal may need additional tribunals, prosecutors and investigators as a growing wave of crimes against humanity cases threatens to overwhelm the country’s existing war crimes justice mechanism, Chief Prosecutor Md Aminul Islam has warned.
Speaking at the annual general meeting of the Supreme Court Reporters Forum in Dhaka on Saturday, the chief prosecutor said the current two tribunals are already handling around 30 active cases, with new complaints, investigations and charge submissions continuing to increase.
“The caseload is rising steadily,” he said, noting that a single trial can take three to four months or even longer to conclude.
The warning comes as the tribunal system faces mounting pressure from cases linked to alleged crimes against humanity, with investigations expanding and more accused persons being brought under scrutiny.
Aminul Islam said the existing tribunal structure may eventually prove insufficient to handle the growing workload, making it necessary to increase the number of tribunals, prosecution teams and investigators.
“We may need to expand the entire capacity of the tribunal system to ensure cases are processed efficiently,” he said.
The chief prosecutor stressed that speed would not come at the expense of fairness.
Since taking office, he said, five to six cases have been returned for reinvestigation to verify evidence and ensure the integrity of proceedings.
“We are scrutinizing every case carefully so that no innocent person is harassed and no guilty person escapes accountability,” he said.
Aminul added that prosecutors are also working to prevent politically motivated, false or retaliatory complaints from entering the judicial process, emphasizing that the credibility of the tribunal depends on impartial investigations and evidence-based prosecutions.
His remarks underscore the growing challenge facing the ICT as Bangladesh seeks to process an expanding number of crimes against humanity allegations while maintaining judicial standards and public confidence in the tribunal process.
