The International Crimes Tribunal asks to complete the investigation against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and submit a report by December 17.

More than a dozen former senior Bangladeshi government officials arrested after a mass uprising in August have been charged with “permitting massacres” in a special court that also told investigators they had a month to complete their work on former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Dozens of Hasina’s allies have been arrested since the fall of her regime, accused of involvement in a police crackdown that killed more than 1,000 people during the unrest that led to her expulsion and exile in India .

Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam said Monday that the 13 defendants, including 11 former ministers, a judge and a former government secretary, were accused of hierarchical responsibility in the deadly crackdown on the student-led protest that toppled the regime.

“We presented 13 accused today, including 11 former ministers, a bureaucrat and a judge,” Islam, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal of Bangladesh, told reporters. “They are complicit in mass killings by participating in planning, inciting violence, ordering law enforcement to shoot on sight, and obstructing efforts to prevent genocide. »

Hasina, who fled to New Delhi by helicopter on August 5, was also due to appear in the Dhaka court on Monday to face charges of “massacres, murders and crimes against humanity”, but she remained a fugitive in exile , with prosecutors reiterating their extradition requests. for her.

Golam Mortuza Majumdar, the chief judge of the three-member International Crimes Tribunal, set December 17 as the date by which investigators would complete their work. The deadline came after prosecutors requested more time for the investigation.

Hasina’s nearly 16-year term in office was marked by numerous human rights violations, including mass detention and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents.

“Crimes that led to mass murders and genocide have taken place over the past 16 years across the country,” Islam said.

The court’s chief prosecutor has already requested help from Interpol through the country’s police chief to arrest Hasina. India is a member of Interpol, but that does not mean New Delhi must hand Hasina over, as each country has its own laws on whether an arrest is appropriate.

On Sunday, interim leader and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus said his administration would seek his extradition from India – a request that could strain relations with a key regional ally, which has maintained close ties with the deposed leader throughout her mandate.

Yunus said up to 3,500 people may have been kidnapped during Hasina’s “autocratic” rule.

Protests erupted this summer across Bangladesh after students demanded the abolition of a controversial quota system in government jobs that they said favored supporters of the ruling party. Although Bangladesh’s highest court scrapped the quota, the protests quickly evolved into a broader call for Hasina’s removal from power.

The government’s response was one of the bloodiest chapters in Bangladesh’s history, when security forces beat and fired tear gas and live ammunition at peaceful protesters, killing more than 1,000 people in three weeks and arresting thousands.