HC continues hearing appeals in BDR carnage case

The High Court for the fourth day yesterday continued hearing the death reference and the appeals in the BDR carnage case, the biggest ever criminal case in the country's history in terms of the number of accused and convicts.

Till yesterday, Deputy Attorney General AKM Zahid Sarwar Kazal has read out 944 pages from the 1014-page charge sheet of the case. He is expected  to continue presenting the charge sheet today.

On January 18, the special HC bench started hearing on the death references and the 257 appeals filed by the convicts of the case.

A Dhaka court on November 5, 2013 awarded death penalty to 150 soldiers of the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and two civilians, and sentenced 161 others to life imprisonment for their roles and involvement in the carnage.

It also handed down rigorous imprisonment, ranging from three to 10 years, to 256 people, mostly BDR soldiers. The court acquitted the remaining 277 accused. A total of 846 people, 823 of them BDR personnel, were on trial.

Seventy four people, including 57 army officials, were slain 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.