Dhaka: 11 years after the Rana Plaza collapse, still no ruling on responsibility

Three cases are still pending in court following the tragedy in which over 1,000 textile workers died. At the beginning of the year, the Supreme Court intervened, ordering the judicial process to be closed by July. The victims say they were left to their own devices, while only Sohel Rana, the owner of the building, is in prison.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) - 11 years after the collapse of Rana Plaza, the judicial process in which the main defendant remains the owner of the property, Sohel Rana, has not yet concluded. And in Bangladesh, the second largest exporter of textile products in the world after China, the conditions of workers in the sector have not seen much improvement.

On April 24, 2013, the tenth floor of the building, located in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, collapsed, trapping around 5,000 textile industry workers. It took days to recover the bodies crushed by the rubble: 1,135 people, mostly women, were killed and over 2,000 people were injured, many disablingly.

Three cases were filed immediately after the accident: one for premeditated murder, one under the technical building regulations, and one for alleged corruption in the design of the building. None of these cases have yet been concluded.

Initially designed to house small shops, over the years the building, in which clothing was produced for the largest international brands, saw the addition - without regular permits - of at least two floors. The day before the tragedy, cracks and irregularities had been reported, ignored by Sohel Rana, who, on the contrary, forced the workers to continue production.

In January this year, the Dhaka High Court granted bail to the owner of the property, which was later revoked at the request of the State. The Supreme Court intervened, suspending bail and ordering the case to be concluded in six months, with a ruling expected in July this year.

But along with Sohel Rana, dozens of other people are accused of premeditated murder, including the former mayor of Savar. A review of the documents revealed the reasons for the slowdowns in the judicial process: some defendants, public employees, were first included, then eliminated and then again included in the charge sheets.

A separate trial, just to understand who should be included in the prosecution registers, caused a delay of at least five years, so the hearing of testimonies began only in 2022, almost 10 years after the tragedy. Of the 594 witnesses listed in the case, 84 completed their testimony. And at the moment only Sohel Rana is reported to be in prison.

According to some commentators, the delays risk not bringing justice to the victims of the accident. Nilufa Begum, one of the workers who was the victim of the Rana Plaza collapse, expressed her frustrations to AsiaNews: "11 years have passed and no one is supporting us today."

Lei nilufa has undergone 11 surgeries on her leg and is waiting to raise enough money to face yet another. Although the government compensated her with 330 thousand taka (about 2,869 euros), she underlined how large industries, the owners of the building and the government ignored her plight and that of all the other victims.

Trade unionist Taslima Akhter claims that, despite some progress seen in textile factories today, workers' lives have not improved. Instead, big brands and the government prevented protests and hindered the achievement of justice after the Rana Plaza collapse, she added.

“Further efforts are needed to improve economic and worker conditions, and we need to remember those who died as we continue the fight for those who are here with us today,” she said.

• Bangladesh
• Rana Plaza
• textiles
• collapse
• accident
• anniversary
• justice
• court
• trial
• investigation
• testimonies
• workers