Verdict in Avijit Roy killing case on 16 Feb

A special tribunal has fixed 16 February for delivering its verdict in the murder case of Avijit Roy, writer and founder of Mukto Mona blog, who was killed in 2015.

Judge of Dhaka Anti-Terrorism Tribunal Md Mujibur Rahman set the date on Thursday after closing the argument in the case.

Public prosecutor of the special tribunal Golam Sarwar confirmed the matter to Prothom Alo.

UNB adds: Earlier on Wednesday, the prosecution concluded its argument seeking death penalty of six accused in the murder case of Avijit Roy and the defence lawyers presented their arguments.

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 are on the run.

Avijit, son of recently deceased physicist Ajoy Roy, was hacked to death, but his wife 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.