“When I saw Salauddin [Quader Chowdhury] on the dock, I was not able to breathe. We have to stay where we live. Who will give me security after the deposition,” a witness posed the question when asked by the Dhaka Tribune about his behaviour during deposition.
He was whispering: “Now both sides will start disbelieving me.”
The 34th prosecution witness against the war crimes suspect, Bijoy Krishna Chowdhury, was announced “decline” on Monday by the defence counsel as he did not mention the name of the accused in his deposition at the International Crimes Tribunal 1.
Also on Monday, at the ICT 2, the prosecution team announced their witness number 19, Abul Hossain as “hostile” in the case against another war crimes suspect Abdul Alim.
On Monday, the prosecution at the ICT 1 cross examined its seventh witness against Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami and declared him “hostile” with the tribunal’s permission. The witness said he could not remember whether he earlier had spoken to the investigation officer on the same incident he described in his deposition.
According to the law, the prosecution declares a witness “hostile” when he/she non-cooperates while the defence may “decline” a witness in case he/she fails to give deposition relating the accused.
While many of the prosecution witnesses were doing this, an investigation officer identifies two specific causes. Requesting anonymity, he said: “We cannot ensure security after the testimony. So they are scared. Secondly, before every session, we have to arrange an orientation class for them. Due to many reasons, we could not do it properly.”
Many of the witnesses did not mention the name of the accused during their deposition. They had described incidents that they saw during the Liberation War or heard from someone. But they evaded mentioning the names of the perpetrators they knew.
Asked, Nurul Islam, an investigation officer, said: “I think, may be the witnesses are scared of the accused party. Also, in most cases they are not hostile but puzzled with the environment of the courtroom.”
The IO said he talked with the witnesses during investigation. Those testimonies were placed with the probe report. But when the same person came to the courtroom, they get scared. “We cannot provide them with enough security. When they go back to their villages, how could they survive from the local gangsters? So they might avoid mentioning the name of the accused.”
According to the guidelines of the tribunal, the state will provide security to the witnesses only when they come to the court to give depositions and on their way back home.
The tribunals also expressed dissatisfaction several times since the prosecution teams were producing continuously such witnesses. On Sunday, the ICT 1 told the prosecution: “You may learn how to quiz the hostile witness.” The tribunal also asked the prosecutors to be sincere about the orientation sessions.
