Trial by Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal: justice disclosed or political agenda?

Mahak Rathee et.al. 

Brazilian Journal of International Law. Indexed by Scopus, ISSN 2236-997X, 10.5102/rdi.v20i2.9092

Summary

The war crimes that happened in Bangladesh are known all over the globe and were considered massive violations of human rights; hence, there was a need to initiate trials in order to make the offenders accountable and hence impart justice. The International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh (hereinafter ICTB) was established in 1971 by the Bangladesh government during the war between Pakistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). This was the turning point when a lot of debate surrounded the practices adopted by the court in the administration of justice and a fair trial.

The objective of this paper is to "make a comparison on the grounds of the International Criminal Tribunal of Yugoslavia (hereinafter ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (hereinafter ICTR), which seem more transparent than the Bangladeshi Trial". Further, this paper challenges the validity of the trial of Bangladesh in the International Criminal Tribunal on the basis of procedure and a fair trial. It explains the history and object of the establishment of the ICTB, as well as the difference between the ICTY and the ICTR, and the authors, criticize the decision of the ICTB on the grounds of a violation of the principles of International Criminal Law. paper explains a pertinent research question here: should an ICTB be considered on par with the ICTR and ICTY? Further, it challenges the validity of the ICTB for not following the principles of "natural justice" and "fair trial," which are essential elements in International law.

ICT-BD was created under the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act of 1973. In general, an international crimes tribunal is a legal body that tries people indicted for war crimes or crimes against humanity as defined in Section 3 of the Act. 2 The aims of such courts are to achieve "justice, promote peace-building, encourage reconciliation, and take remedial action". The authors of this paper aim to examine the structural and functional shortcomings of the International Criminal Tribunal for Bangladesh. They hypothesize that the ICTB's operations are driven more by political considerations rather than the foundational principles of natural justice and fairness.

Keywords

Bangladesh, Genocide, Independence, Tribunal, Verdict, ICT, ICTR, ICTY