Staff Correspondent:

The prosecution of International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Sunday expressed hope that testimony of its witnesses in a case filed over July uprising atrocities against ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina will be completed by the first week of October.

While briefing journalists on Sunday afternoon, Prosecutor Mizanul Islam said that three prosecution witnesses on Sunday gave their testimonies before the tribunal in connection with the case.

The trial of Hasina and her two top aides began on August 3 at the ICT-1, with testimony from the first prosecution witness, a survivor of police atrocities during the mass uprising last year.

Hasina’s two close aides are former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.

Hasina and Asaduzzaman are absconding. They are being tried in absentia, while former IGP Mamun, who became a state witness, was present in the dock today.

On August 3, witness Khokon Chandro Barmon, a microbus driver, recounted how police opened fire on protesters on July 18-19 last year in Narayanganj’s Signboard area and again on August 5 in Dhaka’s Jatrabari, killing two in front of him and injuring many others.