the court. Judge Shahed Noor Uddin also fined 50,000 each and in default they will have to suffer one additional year in jail. During the court date, 27 prosecution witnesses were recorded. The case remained a High Court order for a long while, but charges were framed against the accused on August 15, 2006. An investigation officer on the case pressed charges in the case on January 19, 2006, showing 31 people as prosecution witnesses. During the trial, the judge of the Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal, Shahed Nuruddin, called Das “brave, fearless, honest” and a crusader against social injustice and graft as he handed down life sentences to the nine accused. Context Attacks on Bangladesh's ethnic and religious minorities has been on the rise for many years according to Desh Rights. Regarding the case, a colleague of Das called the police after repeatedly failing to contact him by phone and his work door remained locked throughout the day. Police had eventually busted Das' office door down to find his body inside. Colleagues were not aware of any threats against the reporter, but did note the journalist wrote on sensitive topics such as Islamic militant group activities. Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) condemned the killing. Leaders from both of these organizations demanded the arrest and punishment to perpetrators of the murder. Bangladesh was ranked to be among the fourteen countries worldwide with the worst record of violence against journalists/bloggers, and 19th deadliest country for the press. Since 1992, at least 27 journalists and freelancers have been killed in Bangladesh. However, with Bangladesh being so high in violence against these individuals, only one case—Gautam Das—has had its perpetrators tried and convicted. The motives behind the crimes have only been confirmed in 19 of these cases and the remaining eight are determined unconfirmed. Of the killings since 1992, the other victims include Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, Saiful Alam Mukul, Mir Eias Hossain, Shamsur Rahman, Nahor Ali, Harunur Rashid, Shukur Hossain, Syed Faruq Ahmed, Manik Saha, Humayun Kabir, Kamal Hossain, Dipankar Chakravarty, Shahid Anwar, Sheikh Belal Uddin, Golam Mahfuz, Belal Hossain Dafadar, Jamal Uddin, Talhad Ahmed Kabid and Sadrul Alam. While Das' case received the outcome Bangladesh was searching for, not every suspect was prosecuted. During the course of the trial, an accused died. Alongside the accused, all were released on bail right away, and witnesses backed out of