Reporter Name 
The International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) on Wednesday took formal charges into cognisance against sacked Maj Gen Ziaul Ahsan over his alleged role in enforced disappearances and more than 100 killings.
Prosecutor Shyikh Mahdi submitted the charges at the office of the ICT Registrar this morning.
The tribunal later fixed December 21 for the next hearing and it also directed the authorities to produce Ziaul before the court on that day.
Earlier, the prosecution compared him with Serbian war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
Chief Prosecutor Muhammad Tajul Islam said that, like those known as the “Butchers of the Balkans,” Ziaul Ahsan was the “butcher of Bangla.”
“He was the architect of a culture of enforced disappearance, torturing people at various torture centres, killing them and disposing of their bodies. Whoever tried to raise their voice against the Awami League government was abducted by Ziaul Ahsan—first as a senior official of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and later as DG of the NTMC—made a victim of enforced disappearance, tortured and pushed to near-death experiences. Many of his victims are yet to return home,” the chief prosecutor said.
He also alleged that during the July–August student-led mass uprising, the information blackout imposed by the then government was enforced on Ziaul Ahsan’s orders, preventing people at home and abroad from learning about the atrocities allegedly committed by the government and its agencies.
