War trial verdict of Shakhawat, 8 others on Wednesday

War trial verdict of former lawmaker Shakhawat Hossain and eight other alleged Razakars, who are facing five charges of war crimes against humanity during country’s liberation war, will be delivered on Wednesday.

International Crimes Tribunal-1 on Tuesday set the date of verdict delivery. Earlier on July 14, the case was kept waiting for verdict after argument from both sides.

Shakhawat, now a Jatiya Party leader, was previously lawmaker with tickets from both BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, the fundamentalists who opposed Bangladesh’s liberation in 1971.

Among others accused in the case, Billal Hossain Biswas is also in jail. An accused Lutfar Morol died last May. Ibrahim Hossain, Mujibur Rahman, Kazi Ohidul Islam, Aziz Sardar, Aziz Sardar and Abdul Khaleq Morol are on the run.

Charges of murder, rape and torture were brought against 12 people on July 2015. The war crimes tribunal indicted nine of the men on December 23 and acquitted the others.

Shakhawat was said to be a central member of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat, and a commander of Razakar Bahini at Chingra Bazar camp while the others were members of the Pakistani occupation army`s auxiliary force, said prosecutors.