Today the Tribunal heard matters in the following case:

1. Chief Prosecutor vs. Ashrafuzzaman Khan & Chowdhury Mueen Uddin

State-appointed counsel for Asharafuzzaman, Mr. Abdus Shukur Khan, followed up on the prvious day’s closing submittions, seeking acquittal for his client, Ashrafuzzaman. In the absence of client instruction, the ambit of discussion and closing submission was limited and brief.

Tribunal 2 allowed Prosecutor Shahidur to make some closing comments in reply to the closing argments made today and yesterday by State-appointed defense counsels for the Accused. The Tribunal then declared that the case was to be put as CAV (Curia advisari vult), a latin legal term meaning that the court wished to take the evidence under consideration for a final Judgment.

These are the second and third individuals to be tried in absentia at the ICT. Prior to this case, Abul Kalam Azad alias Bacchu was the first to be tried by the tribunal without being present in court to face the charges against him.