He made this statement at a news briefing at the Foreign Service Academy auditorium in the capital on Thursday (January 15) afternoon.
Asif Nazrul said, "We had announced earlier that this was our commitment to the July Uprising participants. Today, the cabinet approved the 'July Uprising Protection and Immunity Ordinance'. Hopefully, it will become law through gazette notification in the next five to seven days."
He said, the July Uprising participants have been granted immunity from the activities organized for the purpose of political resistance during the July Uprising. By political resistance, we mean activities aimed at restoring democratic governance through the overthrow of the fascist government. The July Uprising participants have been exempted from any criminal liability arising from such activities.
He also said that if there are any criminal cases, the government will take steps to withdraw those cases. In addition, no new cases can be filed for activities carried out for the purpose of political resistance organized in July-August. The cases that have already been filed will be withdrawn.
The legal advisor said that if someone commits a murder in July and August for personal or narrow interests in the name of political resistance, he will not be exempt from criminal liability. This law was not made to exempt someone from liability if he commits a murder out of greed for personal interests or revenge. The law was made only to exempt those who organized activities to restore the democratic system through the fall of the fascist government and those who were collectively involved in that process.
He said, "We have given the National Human Rights Commission the responsibility of determining which killings were committed in the process of political resistance and which were committed for personal and narrow interests." If the family of a victim feels that their relative was killed for personal interests and that it had nothing to do with the fall of the fascist government, they can appeal to the Human Rights Commission. If the Human Rights Commission finds that it was done for personal interests, they will investigate and submit an investigation report. That report will be considered the same as a police investigation report in court.
The Chief Advisor's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam and Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder were present at the time.
