Murder trial over factory collapse that killed 1,130 in Bangladesh resumes after 5 years
- Bangladesh’s lucrative US$35 billion garment trade is second in only in size to China’s, but fires and factory collapses are common due to lax regulations
- The collapse of Rana Plaza – where clothes for fashion brands such as Primark and Benetton were produced – highlighted unsafe conditions in the country
The murder trial over one of the world’s most devastating factory disasters has resumed after five years mired in appeals and court procedure.
More than 1,130 workers died in 2013 when a nine-floor warren of textile factories in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka fell down.
The collapse of Rana Plaza – where clothes for top fast fashion brands such as Primark and Benetton were produced – highlighted unsafe conditions in the country’s lucrative garment industry and triggered mass protests demanding action from global retailers.
A court in 2016 charged 41 people with murder for signing off on building standards and forcing employees to work despite cracks appearing in the complex the day before the disaster.
But the case was halted for more than five years while several defendants tried to get their charges vacated, and the country’s High Court suspended the indictments of two local officials accused of approving the shoddy building.
On Monday, a judge ordered the trial resumed for 36 of the original defendants – three have since died – while a prosecution request to vacate the two suspended indictments will be considered separately.
“We want to conclude the trial as quickly as possible. Already too much time has been wasted,” chief public prosecutor Sheikh Hemayet Hossain said. “The building did not have any (construction) plan. It would shake when machines were switched on. And the owner of the building, Sohel Rana, used hired muscle to force the workers to go to work on the day of the collapse.”
