and has always denied, ah, look, see you on d w capsule. ah ah, this is the w news coming to live from berlin. extra judicial killings allegedly carried out by bangladesh is a leap police squad, and a special dw investigation reveals how the rapid reaction battalion which was set up to fight terrorism takes the law into its own hands. also coming up authorities in russia, arrest a woman in connection with the st. petersburg,

cafe explosion that killed a prominent military blogger. ahh . it'll. i'm terry martin. good to have you with us. we'll begin in bangladesh. we're a d, w, and nets renews investigation has uncovered details of killings linked to the countries elite police force. the rapid reaction battalion or r a b was set up in 2004 as part of the us led war on terror. it was trained and equipped by the us and other western countries to fight extremist violence. the rob has long faced accusations of grave. human rights abuses, claims which the bangladesh government has repeatedly denied, but dw is investigative unit together with its swedish based partner, spoke 2 former rabb commanders. they revealed evidence of how the force commits

extrajudicial killings. some viewers might find this report disturbing. 2 the phone call, your voucher here captures an alleged murder in southern bangladesh. was recorded in 2018 bash. i begum. she connected 2 aspirins phone only seconds before he was killed. oh. 1 ah. 6 earlier the day ackerman huck had been taken by the rapid action battalion, an elite unit of the bag, reddish police, long accused of kidnappings, torture and hundreds of killings. let me say so to get their whole other i want justice. how was my husband killed and why the who gave the order? not any. the recording continues for another 10 minutes. we and sirens and orders to plant ammunition and drugs close to the dying man. more shots are fired.

later the official police report stated that a crowman huck died in a shoot out between drug dealers. he audio dumb little d of his audio is classic evidence of how an operation is staged. i did take part in extra judicial killings and torture, torture this vis a blow is one of 2 former rac commanders who are the 1st to speak up about the rab systemic human rights abuses which bangladesh government has lung the night. in detail, they describe how the elite squad has abducted torch ident kid revealing the wraps playbook for extra judicial killings. ah, it dark. in some cases, the scenes are made up beforehand or sometimes afterwards in court, but all the evidence is planted to blood. god, i hope it won't better and there's nothing written about it, nor the no order is given in writing. for months, d, w, and natural news investigated the rapid action battalion a thaws of $13000.00,

which was originally it to fight terrorism and crime in bangladesh. but according to the whistleblowers, it is also used as a political tool to silence opponents of the government. political, the engagement decision on any political target would come at the very least from the ministry of home affairs, whom we needed was a must to get clearance from home affairs. little it won't hurt us too. and if the home affairs minister gave such an order, it's very unlikely the prime minister of bangladesh, it didn't know about it, because as there's no paper trail, it's hard to verify that claim. but we corroborated the whistleblowers, testimonies with victims, accounts, medical records, police reports and data from human rights organizations. when confronted with our findings, bangladesh, prime minister did not respond. the rap referred us to the ministry of home affairs, which cited their own investigation and denied all allegations as baseless and

until they been with his government keeps denying to these abuses record it is these testimonies once again, show them that they need to stop, deny, and start holding psycho deposits. accountable. beckoned cellphone bangladesh. i shabby. eagle shows us the glasses. her husband was when he was killed. lucky, she received them with his body. since then she says rap officers have pressured herd her family to remain silent on air desk. he said, just one thing, he said your husband has died and you could die at any moment to the body. but i shall be gam once a proper investigation. she says she will continue to speak up until those who killed her husband are held to the count and will join now in the studio by dw investigations. journalist brigitte ashika, who filed that report for ghetto. we heard any report that i should begum, once

a proper investigation into her husband's death, is she likely to get that? that's hard to say in the end to it. or it's depends on the willingness of the bangladesh government to really help or to hold their own security forces accountable. let's take the crumble case and their authority said they have done a proper investigation there. we could acquire the final report and it still states that a criminal hack was killed in a shoot out between rock julius and what's like striking about it is that it does mention her phone recording. we just heard which documents the killing and the cover up afterwards. so that for us seemingly is a clear indication that there's not such a thing like a proper investigation, even though the whole ministry. when asked 3031 questions about our

findings. he said explicitly at a quote that the ministry duly investigates. each incident by an independent magistrate. but then the question remains. why is this recording not mentioned in the investigation report? many questions remain. of course sir. one question i have is a brother whistleblowers. why have they decided to speak out now? or for obvious reasons we can't reveal much about the whistle door was how we got in contact with them, where we met them and so on. but what i can say is they were both recently air commanders in several units of the rap, and they ordered, or at least witness the several are of such killings. so why did they speak out and it's guilt for, for one. and the 2nd a reason they gave us is they, they told us they wanted to stop. they say 11 of the whistleblower said they don't want bangladesh to have

a force like this. who is committing these brave human rights violations? and he said, even if i will be sanctioned, if that helps to stop the wrap, he will be willing to take that risk. so there's a sense of remorse. it seems along the, the rub, the rapid action battalion has long been funded by the us and other government. so are they aware, are those governments aware of the allegations of human rights violations and where much so, because these allegations were raised by human rights organization or a shortly after the raf was, was founded. we know from weekly ex cables from the year 29. that the yes was aware about that they hadn't decided to to, to continue the funding because they considered the rab as a important part, the security partner in their war against, to so called war against terrorism. and this is also something the

spokesperson off the bangladesh of the embassy in bangladesh told us. and they said they stopped the funding and support in 2018. and finally, in december 2021. there was sanctions imposed on the rep and 7 and leading members of the rep. and for many people we spoke to in bangladesh. this was a really a big stab, a woman who for brother was taken at 10 years ago by the rab. she said it was like like light in there at the end of the tunnel because the number of killings really went down after the sanctions. but right the rap and this is important to say, still commit crimes and many are fearing that or this year is election year in bangladesh. so the last figures head of the last years show clearly that these sort of human rights violations spite close to an election. so many fear that the

numbers will raise again. so the rub is still out there. it is not been disbanded. no, not at all. begin to thank you very much for begin or shortly from our investigations . you. by the way, the full documentary on the d w. investigation is now available on youtube. you can watch it on the d. w, lose. let's catch up on some other stories making headlines around the world to day naval units from the us, south korea and japan had begun to days of anti submarine drills of the korean coast. sol says the exercises are intended to counter north korea's developing missile capabilities. the drills come amid fears that north korea may be considering its 1st nuclear test since 2017 finland center. right. national coalition party has won the nordic countries, parliamentary elections, mich leader of terry, or po. no se needs the support of at least 2 other parties to form

a government. he hasn't ruled out a coalition with the 2nd place. all right, fins, part, i think outgoing, prime minister, santa marines, social democrats, finished 30 differently. they had a brushes, private mercenary group. wagner claims his troops have captured the main administrative building in the besieged, ukrainian city of buck, mood. jenny, her trico. she says his soldiers raised the russian flag over buckboard. city hall give rejected. the claim that the city has fallen and says its forces are still holding all amuse. throughout foot of germany's vice chancellor robert hobbit has arrived in ukraine's capital, keep on an unannounced visit. how back, who's also germany's economy minister as being accompanied by business leaders for talks expected to focus on rebuilding the war torn country. it's hub ex 1st trip to ukraine since russia launched its invasion by last year. how back says the visit is intended to give hope to ukrainians and underscore berlin's solidarity with keith.

all russian authorities have confirmed the arrest of a woman suspect in connection with sunday's explosion at saint petersburg cafe, the killed a well known military blogger, the suspect, had previously been detained for taking part in anti war rallies. the explosive device was reportedly hidden inside a present given to flatland petoskey, russian state media say 32 people were wounded in the blast. this is the blogger flatland petoskey real name. maxime full mean. filming himself last year at the grand kremlin palace, he had been invited there to celebrate russia's annexation of ukraine's occupied regions. this defiant tirade went viral. we will beat every one. he said, we will kill every one. we will rob every one who needs to be robbed. everything

will be the way we love him. while these kinds of videos made him wildly popular among pro war russian nationalists. and now, as these scenes suggest a target to task, he was killed after a blast at this restaurant. he had been hosting an event, their meeting supporters and subscribers to his telegram channel. local media reports the task he had been presented with a figurine just minutes before the blast. and that the figurine was the source of the explosion. myself doing this, figuring ahead of the mana and how much they put it. so my back though, without a 2nd thought and he carried on with his questions, then suddenly everything exploded and there was smoke that was like a slow motion movie. it was sit in the back half of the whole. everybody started to run and we needed to ron. so we ran those for the near had blood all over them of close it out and but you can use with all that i was i don't re adding further to the fog of uncertainty. the venue itself has close links to wagner mercenary,

grew bossy of jenny pic, gozine brushes. state investigative committee has opened a murder investigation. it's a reminder of the unpredictable consequences of the war. which to tara ski cheered so fervently. earlier we asked the w's corresponded jennifer parker about their reactions in russia to the apparent killing of the pro kremlin blog. well, that's a russian propagandist went very quickly to react to towards the desk. and of course they blamed ukraine and ukrainian terrorist for his death. and bloody move, a lot of a lodging is the landscape, the ukrainians, presidents office the actually a denied having any involvement in this case. but what we know so far is that tardies fans and subscribers are devastated a because of his death and started to lay down flowers. some of them even said quote that he spoke god's words and should become a st in russian orthodox church. you're watching

d. w is just reminder the top story. we're following for you this our a special d w and the trend news investigation has uncovered details of killings linked to bangladesh is a leap, police force the w's investigative unit. together with the sweden based partner spoke to insiders, who for the 1st time revealed evidence of how to force seemingly committed extra traditional killing. i'm terry martin. up next it's sports life. thanks for watching. with guardians of truth, my name is jolanda and i have paid almost every price of being a journalist in a country like to key taking on the powers that be.