Secularism was one of the cornerstones of Bengali nationalism, but its spirit was enforced only by pen and paper. How can demands to ban religion from politics be satisfied?

What is more important: to dispense justice or to achieve some kind of peace? The court in The Hague wrote the history of the Yugoslav dissolution by politically motivated parcelling of responsibility among former belligerents. This new historical narrative will have far reaching negative consequences.

The latest conviction and death sentence handed down by the ICT has already sparked further protests. As the state-sponsored clampdown on the press quickly grows to encompass anyone willing to speak out, what does this mean for demands for accountability?

The protests in Shahbagh errupted apparently spontaneously in response to the first verdict handed down by Bangladesh's domestic tribunal for war crimes committed during the war of independence in 1971. The primary demand? The death sentence.

Protests at Shahbag that call for the death penalty for Abdul Quader Mollah have been hailed as a move beyond 'partisan politics' in the spirit of the Arab Spring. Clear government backing puts this, and the nature of the justice being meted out, in doubt.

The second verdict handed down by Bangladesh's war crimes tribunal is life imprisonment. Now a death sentence is being demanded in mass protests supported by the ruling regime, with calls for violence that extend into Bangladeshi society. Yet the guilty verdict itself may be a far cry from sound.

The domestic tribunal created to end the culture of impunity following the 1971 independence war continues to lose credibility, victim of partisan politics and judicial corruption. The latest scandal exposed by The Economist reveals the extent to which the project for justice has been compromised.