Much of the evidence at the “Aynaghar” secret detention site was destroyed and new structures were built there, and those involved in destroying the evidence will face action subject to investigation, International Crimes Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Md Aminul Islam has said.
He made the remarks on Saturday afternoon in response to reporters’ questions after inspecting the Task Force for Interrogation (TFI) cell, or secret detention centre, at the RAB-1 headquarters in Uttara, in the capital.
When the investigation agency began its work, a camouflage had been created, the chief prosecutor said. Victims’ accounts were not matching the detention site. Looking into it, investigators found that some areas had been covered with walls. After removing the wall, they found 29 rooms, which was horrific, and below those rooms a death cell, which was also deeply disturbing. Many people of the time bear responsibility for this and those concerned will have to explain it, he said. Those who later walled off and concealed the Aynaghar are also being brought to justice.
He said he had inspected the torture cell known as the “Aynaghar” at RAB-1 and seen a horrific scene there. There are 29 rooms in all, large and small, where victims were kept in extremely inhuman conditions.
Earlier, three judges of International Crimes Tribunal-1, prosecutors and defence lawyers inspected the site. They came to observe the actual conditions on the ground and gather relevant information as part of the judicial proceedings in cases concerning allegations of enforced disappearance and torture at the tribunal.
The chief prosecutor said those who were picked up were held for days, months and years. The rooms were so small that there was no way to lie down; people had to spend day after day, month after month sitting. This was how they were tortured. Some were released after a long time with false cases filed against them, which matches the victims’ accounts given to the prosecution.
He said BNP leader Ilias Ali and current member of parliament Barrister Arman (Mir Ahmad) had also been held in this cell. About 250 people who were disappeared have still not been traced, he said.
Defence lawyer Md Tabarak Hossain Bhuiyan said the inspection was carried out according to law. “But we did not come to see the TFI cell. TFI is a concept, not a specific place,” he said.
Human rights activist Nur Khan Liton and Mayer Daak coordinator and reserved-seat MP Sanjida Islam Tuli were present at the inspection. Sanjida Islam Tuli said people were disappeared and kept here cruelly merely for holding dissenting views or doing politics.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report