Retrial, if BNP returns to power: Fakhrul
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday said their party, if it returns to power, will take steps for retrial of the 2009 BDR carnage through "fair" investigation.
"Those convicted in the case alleged that the trial was not fair. The full report on investigation into the incident has not been published. We also think the trial was not fair," he said.
The BNP leader further said, "We'll surely take steps for a fair trial of the incident though a neutral investigation, if we get back to power."
Fakhrul came up with the remarks while taking to reporters after placing wreaths at a monument set up at Banani Graveyard in memory of the army officials killed in the Pilkhana carnage, marking the 11th anniversary of the incident.
Describing the BDR carnage as conspiratorial, he said the incident was carried out to demoralise Bangladesh Army, a symbol of the country's independence and sovereignty.
"Our independence is now at stake… there's no democracy in the country. Khaleda Zia, an uncompromising leader of democracy, has been kept in jail unfairly," he claimed.
Fakhrul along with party leaders and ex-army officials went to the graveyard around 10:40am. They also offered special prayers there.
Kalyan Party Chairman Maj Gen (retd) Syed Muhammad Ibrahim; BNP vice chairmen Maj (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed and Air Vice Marshal (retd) Altaf Hossain Chowdhury; Maj Gen (retd) Ruhul Alam Chowdhury; retired army officers Fazle Elahi Akbar, Mizanur Rahman, M Shahjahan and Sarwar Hossain were, among others, present.
On February 25-26, 2009, a disgruntled group of the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) killed 74 people, including 57 army officers, of the paramilitary force at the Pilkhana headquarters.
On November 5, 2013, a Dhaka court awarded death sentence to 150 BDR members and two civilians, and life imprisonment to 160 others in the case. On November 27, 2017, the High Court confirmed death penalty for 139 out of 152 accused.
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