Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina addresses a cabinet meeting at Secretariat in the capital on Monday.
The
cabinet on Monday approved the draft of International Crimes Tribunal
(Amendment) Act-2013 to provide for appeal against inadequate sentence
in war crimes cases.If the act were passed, the state as well as plaintiff of a war crimes case will get the opportunity to file an appeal with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against any inadequate sentence in war crimes cases, said Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan.
He was talking to reporters after the regular weekly cabinet meeting held at the Bangladesh Secretariat.
Necessary document will have to be submitted during filing of the appeal, Musharraf said.
Under the act, any appeal against the tribunal verdict will have to be filed before the Supreme Court within 30 days from the date of delivery of the verdict, Musharraf added.
The Appellate Division will have to dispose off an appeal within 45 days from the date of its filing.
If the apex court failed to disposal off an appeal within 45 days, it will get another 15 days, he said.
The initiative came against the backdrop of the ongoing mass demonstrations for the death penalty of all war criminals including Jamaat assistant secretary general Abdul Quader Mollah.
On February 5, the ICT-2 sentenced Mollah to life imprisonment on two charges and 15 years each on three other charges of crimes against humanity.
The tribunal acquitted him on one charge.
As the demand for the capital punishment of all the war criminals brewed across the country, the government on Saturday said it was seriously considering further amendment to the ICT act as the original law of 1973 had no provision for the government to appeal against any verdict of war crimes tribunals, set up to try the war criminals of 1971.
In 2009, the law was amended to give the government the right to appeal to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against a war crimes verdict in the event of “an order of acquittal”.
Despite this amendment, the government -- which represents the victims in war crimes cases -- does not have the right to appeal in the case of inadequate sentence.
The defence, however, enjoys the right to appeal against any “conviction and sentence” in both the original and the amended law.
This difference in the rights to appeal has come to the fore following the verdict in Mollah's case.
As per the ICT act, the government cannot seek capital punishment, instead of the jail terms given to Mollah, though two grievous charges against him of killing around 350 Bangalees were proven beyond doubt.
Hours after the ICT-2 delivered the verdict, people from all walks of life started non-stop demonstrations at Shahbagh intersection, demanding death penalty for all war criminals including Mollah. Later, the demonstration erupted across the country.
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