Former army officer Major (retd) Md Muzaffar Hossain told investigators today that Lt Col (retd) Matiur Rahman shot President Ziaur Rahman during the 1981 assassination at Chattogram Circuit House, according to an International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) prosecutor.
Muzaffar also claimed that then army chief HM Ershad had travelled to Chattogram by helicopter on May 28, two days before the assassination, ICT Prosecutor Tanvir Hassan Zoha told The Daily Star.
The claims were made during a six-hour interrogation of Muzaffar by the ICT investigation agency today.
The interrogation ran from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Investigators are set to question Muzaffar again tomorrow (Monday), Zoha said.
Muzaffar is currently in custody in connection with a crimes against humanity case stemming from the July 2024 Uprising. The tribunal had earlier granted investigators permission to question him in the case.
Ziaur Rahman, the then president of Bangladesh and founder of BNP, was assassinated in the early hours of May 30, 1981, when a group of army officers stormed the Chattogram Circuit House.
Asked about his own role during the event, Muzaffar claimed that on the instructions of his unit chief, he retrieved the late president's body the following morning and buried him alongside two security personnel in a hilly forest.
Muzaffar, who held the rank of major in 1981, was arrested in Dhaka's Banani on July 15 after remaining at large for nearly 45 years. He was later handed over to military police.
The ICT later ordered him to be produced before it after prosecutors showed interest in questioning him regarding his alleged links to former Lt Gen Masud Uddin Chowdhury in a separate crimes against humanity investigation.
Meanwhile, a prosecution witness told ICT-1 today that he saw shots being fired from helicopters and sound grenades and tear gas being used against protesters during the July 2024 Uprising.
Md Shabab Hossain Maher, former Students Against Discrimination coordinator at BRAC University, testified in a crimes against humanity case against ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy and former state minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak.
Maher said on July 19, 2024, police, Rab, BGB and Awami League activists fired at civilians near Dhaka's Rampura Bridge, killing 35 to 40 people in the area. He added that internet services were shut down from July 18 to 23 to suppress movement coordination and hide the killings.
During the proceedings, Palak stood in the dock and warned that the tribunal’s Windows operating system was vulnerable, urging the use of licensed software. He also objected to being given a heavy helmet.
