The defence, Monday, cross-examined the investigation officer (IO) of a case against the war crimes suspect Salauddin Quader Chowdhury at the International Crimes Tribunal 1 for the eighth consecutive day.
But the questioning remained incomplete as the tribunal adjourned the proceedings for the day.
Apart from the 41 witnesses, the three-member tribunal, headed by Justice ATM Fazle Kabir, also accepted the statements of four persons, who gave their depositions to the IO.
Three out of the four witnesses have died while the fourth cannot be traced.
Meanwhile, security measures in and around the tribunal were tightened, since the law enforcers recovered three hand bombs at the tribunal gate on Sunday night, ahead of yesterday’s shutdown.
Monday, defence counsel Ahsanul Huq Hena asked IO Nurul Islam about the statements made by the four witnesses against the six-time BNP lawmaker from Chittagong.
Hena claimed that the IO was deceiving the tribunal by not producing the witnesses.
During the cross-examination, the IO denied the allegation that he had not wanted to present the three witnesses before they died. “We were not able to present Jotsna Bala at the tribunal within the stipulated time, which expired on February 10 this year, due to her illness.
She died thereafter and consequently her signature could also not be taken on her statement.”
Elaborating on the statement given by the fourth witness, who could not be produced before the tribunal, Islam said: “I did not know Badal Bishwas left his house due to a family feud. It is not true that I wrote the statements on behalf of the witnesses.”
Last month, the prosecution had pleaded that the tribunal accept statements of eight witnesses, claiming that those statements were recorded by the IO under Section 19(2) of the ICT Act 1973. After considering the same, the tribunal accepted four statements as witness accounts.
Son of Muslim League leader Fazlul Quader Chowdhury, Salauddin Quader was arrested on December 16, 2010 and was shown arrested in connection with the crimes against humanity on December 19.
On November 17, 2011, the tribunal took 23 charges into cognisance against the BNP standing committee member.