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The brutal repression against the demonstrators of students last year by the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, killed up to 1,400 people, a much higher assessment than previously, according to a UN report published on Wednesday .
The violent response of Ms. Hasina to the revolt led by the student, who ultimately ended his 15 -year rule, involved extrajudicial murders, arbitrary arrests and torture, according to a mission of rooting of the United Nations. The actions of Ms. Hasina and senior officials from Bangladais may have been crimes against humanity, according to the United Nations report.
“The testimonies and the evidence that we have gathered paint a disturbing picture of the rampant violence of the state and the targeted murders which are among the most serious violations of human rights, and which can also constitute international crimes” , said Volker Türk, the UN’s chief of human rights in a declaration.
It is clear that “the best levels of the former government were aware and in fact involved in the commission of very serious violations,” Türk told journalists. Abuses included torture and ill-treatment of children and sexual violence against women, he said.
Ms. Hasina fled to India in August as the demonstrators went down to her house. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to feed her as she uses her perch in India to intervene in Bangladesh policy, complicating the efforts of the interim government to rebuild the country’s democracy.
The guardian administration, led by the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Muhammad Yunus, asked for Ms. Hasina’s extradition on accusations of genocide and crimes against humanity. The Indian government, a long time, an ally of Ms. Hasina, has shown no sign of respect for demand.
The United Nations reports examined the clashes involving Ms. Hasina’s security forces, supporters of her political party and anti -government demonstrators during a period of three weeks from July 15 to August 5.
The vast majority of people killed – of which 12 or 13% were children, estimated the United Nations – were slaughtered by the security forces. Thousands of people suffered injuries that changed the lives of rifles and high caliber hunting rifles fired at close range, he said.
The 103 -page report of the United Nations reference team was mainly based on more than 230 interviews, in particular with protest leaders as well as current and former security officials. He also signed up on video and geolocation technology to rebuild and corroborate the accounts of the events.
According to the testimony of graphic witnesses, the police used a riot vehicle to run on demonstrators while shooting them. In another case, a protester described how a policeman had shot down and killed a wounded protester whom she was holding in her arms, then shot him.
In addition to the hundreds of young demonstrators killed, police said that 44 of their officers died during the demonstrations. Türk said the investigators had documented acts of revenge against the supporters of the political party of Ms. Hasina after the demonstrations, as well as against the police and certain religious and indigenous minorities.
The United Nations called for an investigation to determine the criminal responsibility for violations.
Türk said many cases had already been deposited with the Bangladesh National Court dealing with international crimes. But he noted “challenges and gaps” in the Bangladais legal system and reported the possibility of continuing affairs through universal jurisdiction countries or through the international criminal court.
Türk stressed the importance of legal responsibility to help Bangladesh move from his descent to authoritarianism and break the cycles of violence that have long followed the Bangladesh policy.
The publication of the United Nations report intervened after a push of political violence this month started by a speech that Ms. Hasina disseminated from India. Angry students bulldozer and burnt down a museum that had once been the residence of the father of Mrs. Hasina, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founder of Bangladesh.
The students then clashed with supporters of the party of Ms. Hasina, whom the interim government prevented from participating in the effort to redo the country’s political system.
Violence has prompted the government to launch what it called on Devil Hunt operation, in which the police and paramilitary units arrested more than 1,300 people, officials said.
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