329 more BGB jawans convicted
A special court of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) yesterday sentenced 329 jawans of the directorates of Pilkhana and Rifles Sports Board (RSB) to various terms of imprisonment, ranging from four months to seven years, in a mutiny case.
The jail term will be effective from today and the convicts will serve their sentences in non-military prisons.
The three-member Special Court-11 led by Brig Gen Md Nasir Uddin Ahmad also fined each convict Tk 100. It also acquitted seven of the accused as the allegations against them were not proven. Three of them had pleaded guilty before the court.
At least 73 people, including 57 army officers, were brutally murdered during the February 25-26 mutiny in 2009 at Pilkhana, the then Bangladesh Rifles (now BGB) headquarters.
The court set up at Darbar Hall of the BGB headquarters in Pilkhana, started at 10:00am and ran for nearly four hours.
A total of 14 charges were brought against the jawans. Those include leaving the Darbar Hall defying the orders of the then director general Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed, collecting firearms and ammunition from the armouries, participating in the mutiny, creating panic by patrolling with firearms, escaping from Pilkhana when the officers were in danger and using armoured personnel carriers.
Of the convicts, 37 were jailed for seven years and the others for four months up to six years.
Some of the convicted jawans of RSB had won medals by taking part in various national-level sports tournaments.
This was the ninth verdict by special courts set up in Pilkhana, trying 2,645 jawans till date in the mutiny case. The court began its proceedings on August 4, 2010 and delivered its judgment after 53 working days and 203 witnesses' depositions.
Sixty-six of the convicted jawans were also accused in the BDR carnage case, said court prosecutor Lt Col Khandaker Zahirul Alam.
Delivering the verdict, the judge considered factors like past records and designation of the accused, their contribution to the 1971 Liberation War and period spent behind bars from arrest, he added.
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