State should punish top war criminals

A state cannot punish all criminals who committed war crimes but it should try and punish some of the top leaders to establish justice in society, observed a noted international jurist yesterday.

"To end the culture of impunity, you cannot prosecute hundreds of thousands of people," said William P Sloan, former president of American Association of Jurists, Canadian chapter, at an international seminar in the capital.

When war crimes were committed in Bangladesh, it was not against individuals but against the nation, he said, adding that crimes against individuals need closure.

But the war crimes in Bangladesh was a big operation to suppress and inject fear into people's minds, he observed while delivering a speech as the keynote speaker on "Genocide, 1971 the Culture of Impunity and Cycle of Violence".

Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee organised the programme in the Cirdap auditorium celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Nuremberg trials.

So there must be justice for victims to remove their apprehension about the crimes and the violence they faced, said William P Sloan.

Addressing the programme, Russian Ambassador in Dhaka Alexander A Nikolaev said the key message of the Nuremberg trials was not about taking revenge but retribution for crimes against humanity.

The trial against war criminals in Bangladesh is not a political arrangement, he observed.

There may be a link between the crimes against humanity and genocide the war criminals committed 40 years ago and the offences committed through the recent attacks on bloggers, writers, and publishers, he said.

Former justice Syed Amirul Islam, an adviser of the Ekatturer committee, proposed that the government amend the constitution and international crimes (tribunals) act to discard the option of presidential clemency for convicted war criminals.

Addressing as the chief guest, Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury said the war crimes trials were being held to end the culture of impunity and establish the rule of law.

Law Minister Anisul Huq, assistant prosecutor at the tribunals Tureen Afroz and the Ekatturer committee acting president Shahriar Kabir also spoke.