Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal-1 on 10 July formally indicted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina on five counts of crimes against humanity linked to the deadly crackdown on last year’s student-led uprising. The court also charged former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former inspector-general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun over the same allegations. Prosecutors say the three orchestrated murder, attempted murder, torture and the use of lethal weapons as security forces moved against protesters between mid-July and mid-August 2024, a period when a UN rights office report estimates as many as 1,400 people were killed. Al-Mamun was produced in court from custody, while Hasina and Kamal were indicted in absentia after ignoring previous summonses and are believed to be in India. The three-judge panel, headed by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, scheduled 3 August for the prosecution’s opening statement and 4 August for the first witness testimony. If the two fugitive defendants fail to appear, the trial will proceed without them under the tribunal’s rules. The case marks the first time Bangladesh’s 16-year Awami League leader has faced a formal trial since her government was toppled last August.