[JURIST] Former Bangladeshi prime minister Khaleda Zia was granted bail on Sunday after surrendering to the court in Dhaka. Zia, the leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), had been voluntarily confined [BBC report] to her office since January 5, when an indefinite transport blockade was called on the anniversary of the previous election. She faces charges of embezzling money from two corruption cases between 2001 and 2006 and instigating violence. The trial began last year, and an arrest warrant was issued for Zia in February when she failed to appear in court.

This is not the first time Zia has faced criminal charges since she left office in 2006. In May 2008 Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed [JURIST report] formal charges against Zia for an alleged kickback scheme that awarded lucrative gas contracts to Canadian oil company Niko Resources Ltd [corporate website]. The ACC charged [JURIST report] Zia’s eldest son with corruption in July 2010 for allegedly laundering USD $3 million through bank accounts in Singapore. In March 2014 the former prime minister and other members of the BNP were indicted [JURIST report] on two corruption charges, accused of embezzling funds from a charitable trust named after Zia’s deceased husband. Bangladesh’s High Court ruled Zia must stand trial [JURIST report] on corruption charges last April. In February, an arrest warrant was issued [JURIST report] for Zia again when she and 55 other people were charged for instigating an arson attack on a bus.