The Ghost of Nuremberg over Dhaka: Why Command Responsibility Cannot Be Bartered for Political Expediency
Pictures: All three are the killers, collaborators of mass massacres in 2024, 2013, and 2009 under the then Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Shaikh Hasina There is a historical myth currently paralyzing the pursuit of justice in post-uprising Bangladesh. It is the comfortable, bureaucratic lie that an individual cannot be held responsible for a massacre unless they were physically standing on the pavement, holding a weapon, and pulling a trigger. As figures like former Minister Dr. Dipu Moni , former Parliament Speaker Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury , and former Narayanganj Mayor Selina Hayat Ivy are granted procedural bail or allowed to enter a revolving door of weak legal cases, the defense relies on a single argument: “They did not physically participate in the violence.” This argument does not just insult the memory of the roughly 1,400 martyrs who fell during the July 2024 revolution. It fundamentally ignores the entire foundation of modern international criminal law. If Bangladesh t...