TDS Desk:

International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Chief Prosecutor Muhammad Tajul Islam on Wednesday said the captives who became victims of enforced disappearance were referred to by their captors using the code name “Monalisa.”

“The captors subjected the victims to brutal torture, including amputation of limbs, pulling out of fingernails, seating on rotating chairs, and electric shocks,” the chief prosecutor told the tribunal during the hearing on formal charges in two cases filed over enforced disappearances and torture at the Taskforce for Interrogation (TFI) Cell and the Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) during the Awami League regime.

He further said the captors used code names for various elements of the operations: the detainees were called “Monalisa,” enforced disappearance victims were referred to as “Subjects,” detention centres for these victims were called “Art Gallery,” while other secret detention facilities were referred to as “Hospital” or “Clinic.”

The prosecution on Wednesday submitted formal charges in two cases filed over enforced disappearances and torture carried out at the TFI Cell and the JIC.

The prosecution brought five charges in the case against 13 people, including ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her former security and defence adviser Tarique Ahmed Siddique, over the crimes committed at the JIC.

It brought another five charges against 17 people, including Hasina and Siddique, over the crimes committed at the TFI.

The first tribunal, led by its Chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, after taking cognisance of the charges, issued arrest warrants for the accused.

The tribunal also set 22 October for producing the accused before the court.