The International Crimes Tribunal-2 on Wednesday allowed time till January 14 to minister without portfolio Suranjit Sengupta to explain his ‘derogatory’ remarks about the date for pronouncing verdicts in war crimes cases.
The tribunal extended the deadline as Suranjit’s lawyer Abdul Baset Majumder sought time on the ground that he was yet to get prepared to represent his client.
The tribunal led by Justice Obaidul Hasan on December 24, 2012 issued a rule suo moto asking Suranjit to submit his explanation on the matter by Wednesday.
In the rule, the tribunal said it had noticed from a report published in daily ‘Amar Desh’ on December 23, 2012 that Suranjit at a public rally foretold the time of pronouncing the verdicts in cases pending before the tribunal.
‘Next year is 2013. The verdict against the 14 identified war criminals has been finalised. The trial of 14 war criminals, identified in the verdict will be completed any time in 2013. Verdict of hanging them will be implemented too. None will be able to resist it,’ the tribunal had read out the newspaper, quoting Suranjit.