Apex court lambasts tribunal prosecutors over inefficiency, misconduct

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has lambasted some of the prosecutors of International Crimes Tribunal over inefficiency and misconduct. The apex court made the remark while holding a hearing on a petition filed by one of the tribunal’s prosecutors Syed Haider Ali praying for removal of a portion of appeal verdict in the war crimes case against Delwar Hossain Sayeedi on Monday. The court criticised the prosecution for their inefficiency and incompetence in conducting the case against Sayeedi. Attorney General Mahbubey Alam also supported the court's remark during the hearing. "Some prosecutors of the tribunal are involved in private practice while some of them take part in the meetings of Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee and other organisations who have a political agenda," the appeals court said. "They do not understand the position of a public prosecutor," appeals court added further. Earlier, the five-member Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha dismissed the state's review plea to increase the sentence for Sayedee. The SC bench said: “The state would have received a better judgment of the case had the prosecutors of the tribunal performed their duties properly.” Following the court's proceedings, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told the reporters that in Sayeedi's case, investigation was not done properly and prosecution did not present witnesses and documents. He said he visited Pirojpur and Barisal twice to bring some documents regarding this case to produce them before the appeals court. “But I could not get that. I believe that Sayedee's men have kept those documents hidden,” said the attorney general. During the hearing, the Chief Justice too mentioned that result in the case, both at appeal and review stage, could have been different if those documents had presented.