The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1 on Sunday started recording deposition of a prosecution witness in a case against former law minister Anisul Huq and ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s private industry and investment adviser Salman F Rahman for allegedly inciting mass killings and other crimes against humanity by imposing curfew during the July mass uprising.

July hero Imran Hossain from the city’s Mirpur testified as the first prosecution witness in the case.

Earlier, on February 10, Chief Prosecutor Muhammad Tajul Islam placed the opening statement in the case.

The first tribunal, headed by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder, on January 12 framed charges against the two accused. The prosecution submitted the formal charge on December 4, which the tribunal later took into cognizance.

According to the case documents, Salman and Anisul had a telephonic conversation during the July Uprising, where they allegedly expressed views in favour of eliminating protesters.

Shortly after the conversation, protesters reportedly came under indiscriminate firing across the country, prompting the prosecution to bring charges of incitement to violence against them.

Anisul Huq and Salman F Rahman were arrested on August 13, 2024, from Dhaka’s Sadarghat area while they were attempting to flee the capital through river routes. They had remained in jail since then.