A former army officer on Thursday told the International Crimes Tribunal that four people, including one witness to the BDR killings, were abducted, blindfolded, shot and dumped in the Baleshwar River in Barguna after cement bags were tied to their bodies as he testified against retired Major General Ziaul Ahsan.

Major Sabbir made the allegations in a case concerning enforced disappearance as crimes against humanity, saying the four men were taken aboard a fishing trawler to the Baleshwar River near Char Duani in Patharghata in May 2010.

He told the tribunal that their faces and bodies were covered.

Sabbir said the victims were blindfolded and shot before their abdomens were slit. Heavy cement bags were then tied to their bodies before they were thrown into the river to prevent them from resurfacing.

Ziaul, former head of the intelligence wing of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and former director general of the National Telecommunications Monitoring Centre (NTMC), is the sole accused in the case.

Sabbir added that members of the intelligence wing of RAB-8 carried out the operation in the presence of, and on the instructions of, Ziaul, who was then heading the RAB intelligence wing.

He further testified that another person was killed and dumped in the river in a similar manner in 2010.

Sabbir also alleged that Alkas Majhi, a boatman who was involved in Ziaul's alleged secret “Golf Operation” in 2011, was abducted and killed in a similar manner.

The case is one of the significant proceedings arising from allegations of enforced disappearances over the past 16 years.

Several witnesses, including former army chief General Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan, military and RAB officials, eyewitnesses and victims, have previously testified in the case.

The prosecution said the investigation officer would testify after the remaining eyewitnesses complete their depositions.

Final arguments will begin following the investigation officer's testimony, bringing the trial closer to its conclusion.

Ziaul Ahsan is currently in jail after being accused in several cases involving crimes against humanity.

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***The story has been updated to clarify that four people were killed, including one witness in the BDR killings case, not four BDR killings witnesses, as Waadaa reported earlier.