Bangladesh opens murder

trial over factory disaster

July 19, 2016
Print : World

DHAKA: A Bangladesh court Monday formally charged 38 people with

murder over the 2013 collapse of a garment factory that killed more than
1,100 people, one of the worlds worst industrial disasters.
The 38 defendants are the first to go on trial for the disaster at the Rana
Plaza compound, which highlighted appalling safety standards in
Bangladeshs $28 billion garment export industry, the worlds second
largest after China.
"In all 41 people were charged. Among them 38, were indicted with
murder and the other three for helping the main criminal, Sohel Rana, to
escape," prosecutor Abdul Mannan told AFP after the trial opened in a
Dhaka court.
If convicted of murder the defendants, who include the owners of the
building and of factories housed inside, face the death penalty.
At least 1,138 people died in the tragedy. Rescuers struggled for weeks to
retrieve the bodies from the ruins but some people are still unaccounted
for.
The disaster triggered demands for Western retailers to help introduce
sweeping reforms including new safety inspections and higher wages in
the industry, which employs around four million workers.