Not prosecuting police officers involved in July mass killings makes you complicit: Sarjis tells police

Sarjis Alam, general secretary of the July Martyrs' Memorial Foundation, has urged the police to file cases against police officials involved in the mass killings during the July uprising.

"If you do not file cases against the police officers involved in the killings during the 2024 uprising, you [police] will be indirectly complicit in murder," he said at an event today (14 December) at the Rajshahi District Shilpakala Academy.

"File cases against the officers involved in the killings. Clear your tarnished image and regain public trust. If you perform your duties properly, we can significantly advance the judicial process within the next year," Sarjis said, addressing the police.

He added, "Anyone who betrays the spirit of the July uprising will not be spared, not even Dr Yunus, should he be implicated."

Mentioning the trial of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's killers after his assassination on 15 August 1975, he said, "If Mujib's trial could proceed without exhuming his body, why must we exhume the July martyrs?"

"The trial of murderer [former prime minister Sheikh] Hasina should be held without exhuming the bodies of the July revolution martyrs," he added.

The foundation distributed Tk5 lakh cheques to 46 families of martyrs from Rajshahi at the event.