DHAKA: A Bangladesh court on Tuesday sentenced to death a top opposition MP for genocide, the first lawmaker to be convicted of war crimes during the 1971 war of independence.

Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, a leader of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was charged with killing 200 civilians and collaborating with Pakistan’s army to kill and torture unarmed people, as well as other crimes.

Chowdhury, 64, would be “hanged by the neck,” presiding judge A.T.M Fazle Kabir told a packed court in Dhaka. “We are happy with the verdict,” Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told AFP.

After the sentence was read out, a defiant Chowdhury accused the government of influencing the judge’s decision. “This judgment came from the (law) ministry. The copy of the verdict has been available on the Internet since yesterday,” he said.

Since January, the much-criticized International Crimes Tribunal has convicted seven people of crimes related to the nine-month war.