Avijit Roy killing: Prosecution concludes argument

The prosecution concluded its argument seeking death penalty of six accused in the murder case of Avijit Roy, writer and founder of Mukto Mona blog who was killed in 2015, UNB reports.

Later in the day the defence lawyers started presenting their argument.

Judge of Dhaka Anti-Terrorism Tribunal Md Mujibur Rahman fixed 4 February for next hearing in the case.

On 25 March 2019, the Bangladesh-born US citizen Avijit’s murder case was transferred to the Anti-Terrorism Tribunal.

Before that on 14 March 2019, the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) pressed charges against six people, including sacked army major Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque, a suspected coordinator of banned militant outfit Ansar-Al-Islam in the case.

The five other accused are Mozammel Hossain alias Saimon, Abu Siddiq Sohel alias Sakib alias Sajid alias Shahab, Akram Hossain alias Abir, Md Arafat Rahman and Shafiur Rahman Farabi.

Of them, Zia and Akram have been on the run.

Avijit, son of recently deceased physicist Ajoy Roy, was hacked to death, but Banya escaped with serious injuries after unidentified assailants attacked them with a sharp weapon near TSC on the Dhaka University campus on the evening of 26 February 2015, as they were returning home from the Amar Ekushey Book Fair.

Avijit’s late father filed a murder case with Shahbagh Police Station the very next day.