Lawyers for war crimes accused and Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami on Wednesday tendered their third witness, who was not listed by the defence, saying that he would echo the statements given by the previous witnesses.
This is for the first time a witness is tendered in a war crimes case.
“Tendering a witness” means the witness will be produced only for cross-examination; s/he would not give deposition. Any testimony submitted by a former witness could be considered as the testimony of such a witness for purposes of cross-examination.
The first two witnesses claimed that they had not heard about the involvement of Nizami in crimes during the 1971 Liberation War in Santhia of Pabna.
The defence earlier said they would present lawyer Nazibur Rahman, also son of the alleged war criminal, as the third witness on Wednesday.
But they placed Abdus Salam Mukul, whose name was not among the five submitted by Nizami’s lawyers earlier.
The defence told the International Crimes Tribunal 1 that Nazibur would testify on Thursday as the fourth and last witness in the case.
Neither the tribunal nor the prosecution raised any objection on Wednesday over producing an unlisted witness.
Earlier on Sunday, defence lawyer Tajul Islam submitted a list of five witnesses – Abdul Hamid (1, 2), Abdul Samad, Mujibur Rahman and S Alam. But they produced “out of the list” KM Hamidur Rahman on Monday as the first witness. On this matter, the tribunal expressed disappointment over the “fraudulent behaviour.”
The defence later apologised and pleaded to have his name corrected on the list.
On Tuesday, they brought Md Shamsul Alam, another witness who was not on the list, and prayed that the name “S Alam” on the list be changed to “Md Shamsul Alam.”
The Jamaat chief is facing 16 charges of murders and torture of unarmed people, and complicity to commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Pabna and Dhaka during the war.
Mukul, the third defence witness, on Wednesday identified himself at the tribunal as a freedom fighter of Santhia in Pabna. He took oath in the witness box and told the tribunal his name and identity.
Just after that, senior defence counsel Mizanul Islam submitted that they were tendering the witness.
The defence said the third witness came to say the same thing the previous witnesses had said. So, he did not need to give deposition separately.
Following this, the tribunal asked the prosecution to cross-examine the witness. The prosecution, however, declined to question Mukul. The tribunal then adjourned the proceedings until on Thursday when the last defence witness would be placed.