The prime minister has told the parliament that the trial proceedings of August 21 grenade attack case are now at the final stage with 225 witnesses finishing their depositions.
Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said this while replying to a tabled starred question from Awami League (AL) lawmaker Nasima Ferdushe (reserved seat-13).
According to her, "The proceedings of August 21 grenade attack case of 2004 are now at the final stage of the verdict; meaning the argument stage."
She said the placing of arguments by the prosecution has already been completed and the defence arguments for 18 out of 52 accused were completed till January 24 last.
The date for delivering the verdict, the PM noted, will be fixed on completion of the arguments for the remaining accused.
Noting that the grenade attack on August 21, 2004 is an unprecedented grisly, cruel attack in world history, she described it as the outcome of a conspiracy hatched by the then ruling party to annihilate the then opposition party with state patronage.
UNB quoted Hasina as saying that 24 AL leaders and activists, including Mahila AL leader Ivy Rahman, were killed in the attack. "Hundreds of leaders and activists still bear the horror memories of the attack."
In reply to another starred question from ruling party MP Golam Dastagir Gazi Bir Protik (Narayanganj-1), the PM said nearly 5.2 million Bangladeshi workers went abroad in the last nine years of the AL government.
"A total of 5,198,914 workers went abroad in the last nine years (2009-2017) following our sincere efforts," she said, adding that Bangladesh sent 1,008,525 workers to different countries in 2017.