HC verdict on appeals today

The High Court is set to deliver its verdict today on the death reference and appeals of 152 convicts filed against their convictions in the Pilkhana BDR mutiny case.

The death reference and appeals have been kept as item No-1 of High Court's cause list for today.

A two-member HC bench, comprising Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique and Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder, will pronounce the judgment.

On April 3, a three-member special HC bench, led by Justice Shawkat Hossain, kept the verdict as Curia Advisari Vult (CAV) after concluding the hearing on the appeals and the death reference.

A Dhaka court on November 5, 2013, sentenced 152 soldiers of the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles and two civilians to death, and 161 others to life imprisonment for their involvement in the BDR mutiny.

A total of 257 appeals were filed with the High Court against the lower court verdict.

Seventy-four people, including 57 army officials, were killed in the BDR mutiny on February 25-26 in 2009 at the Pilkhana headquarters in Dhaka.

The paramilitary force was later renamed Border Guard Bangladesh.