A special Bangladeshi war crimes court on Monday charged its first suspect with atrocities including genocide, arson, rape and religious persecution during the country’s 1971 war of independence.
Delawar Hossain Sayedee, a leader of Bangladesh’s largest Islamic party, will be tried at the tribunal set up last year to investigate those accused of crimes committed during the nine-month war against Pakistan.
Judge Nizamul Haq read out 20 charges to Sayedee in a crowded Dhaka courtroom, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.