KEY POINTS:
The trial of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, accused of extorting more than US$400,000 ($524,800) from a businessman, opened yesterday in a Dhaka court.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions judge, Mohammad Azizul Haque, on Sunday charged Hasina and her cousin Sheikh Selim, a former minister in her Cabinet,
with illegally taking 30 million taka from a businessman when Hasina was in power between 1996 and 2001.
Another detained former Prime Minister, Begum Khaleda Zia - being held in the Dhaka Parliament compound where Hasina is detained - is also likely to face trial on graft charges soon.
- REUTERS