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The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has appointed Supreme Court lawyer Aminul Ghani Titto to represent ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina in the contempt of court case.
The three-member tribunal panel led by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumdar issued the order appointing Titto as state defence counsel in the case.
The court said he would stand for the other accused in the case, Sakil Akondo Bulbul alias Md Shakil Alam, the former chief of Gaibandha's Gobindaganj Upazila unit of the Chhatra League.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Jun 25, reports bdnews24.com.
Earlier, senior lawyer AY Moshiuzzaman was appointed amicus curiae by the same tribunal.
Earlier, on May 25, the tribunal had ordered the publication of a notice in newspapers summoning Hasina and former Chhatra League leader Shakil to face contempt of court charges.
Prosecutor Gazi MH Tamim later informed the tribunal that neither of the accused had appeared within the stipulated seven-day period following the notice’s publication. Consequently, an amicus curiae was appointed in accordance with Rule 41 of the International Crimes Tribunal Rules of Procedure.
A complaint was filed against Hasina and Shakil on Apr 30 over statements linked to a July Uprising case.
The ICT had ordered the accused to file their response by May 15.
After they failed to comply, the tribunal ordered the accused to appear before it on May 25.
As they did not comply with this second directive either, the tribunal instructed its registrar to publish a public notice in two national newspapers.
An audio clip had gone viral on social media with a recording of someone saying, “There are 227 cases against me, so I have got a licence to kill 227 people.”
Later, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police carried out a forensic examination of the conversation and identified the speaker as Hasina, leading to a contempt of court case with the tribunal.