The International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh

The International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh was established in 2010 with the aim of bringing to trial perpetrators of crimes committed during the Liberation War in 1971, through which the country seceded from Pakistan. The International Crimes Tribunal is a domestic tribunal based on the International Crimes Tribunals Act from 1973 and the Rules of Procedure enacted by the Tribunal itself. The initiation of these trials almost 40 years after the war entails several challenges. The publication examines to what extent the Tribunal’s legal framework as well as its jurisprudence comply with international standards as established in international treaties, customary international law and in the jurisprudence of international criminal law. To this end, the substantive law and its interpretation as well as the procedural standards applied at these trials are examined thoroughly. At the same time, the analysis takes into account the political environment surrounding the Tribunal’s work and assesses its impact on the country’s process of coming to terms with the past.