A court in Bangladesh opened a murder investigation into ousted former premier Sheikh Hasina and six top figures in her administration over the police killing of a man during civil unrest last month.
Seventy-six year old Hasina fled by helicopter to neighbouring India a week ago, where she remains, while protesters flooded Dhaka’s streets in a rather unexpected demise to her iron-fisted tenure.
Over 450 people were killed during the weeks of unrest leading up to her toppling and the move is the first step in a criminal investigation under Bangladeshi law. The case accuses the seven of responsibility for the death of a grocery store owner who was shot dead on July 19 by police violently suppressing protests
Mamun Mia, a lawyer who brought the case on behalf of a private citizen said that the case has been filed against Sheikh Hasina and six more, adding that the Dhaka Metropolitan Court had ordered police to accept the murder case against the accused persons.
Mia’s filing with the court also named Hasina’s former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan and Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of Hasina’s Awami League party.
Also named are four top police officers appointed by Hasina’s government who have since vacated their posts.
Hasina’s government was accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of her political opponents.
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus returned from Europe three days after Hasina’s ouster to head a temporary administration facing the monumental challenge of steering democratic reforms.
The 84-year-old won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microfinance, and is credited with helping millions of Bangladeshis out of grinding poverty.
He took office as chief adviser to a caretaker administration – all fellow civilians bar home minister Sakhawat Hossain, a retired brigadier general – and has said he wants to hold elections “within a few months”.
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