Pilkhana BDR Mutiny: HC releases full text of verdict

The full text of the High Court verdict in the sensational Pilkhana BDR mutiny murder case was released on Wednesday.

The 29,059-page text of the verdict, the longest in Bangladesh’s legal history, was published after three judges signed the copies.

Seventy-four people, including 57 army officers, 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 (BGB).

Fifty-eight cases were filed — one for serious crimes, including murder and looting, and the rest for mutiny, in connection with the incident.

A Dhaka court on November 5, 2013 sentenced 152 soldiers of the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles and two civilians to death, and 160 others to life imprisonment for their involvement in the BDR mutiny.

Another 256 soldiers were sentenced to various jail terms and 278 others were acquitted.

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

On November 27, 2017, the three-member bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder, Justice Md Shawkat Hossain, and Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique upheld the death sentences of 139 convicts, acquitted four and commuted the death sentences of eight others to life imprisonment.

Besides, the bench upheld the life term imprisonment of 146 convicts, among 160, and acquitted 12 others. It also sentenced 34 others to life imprisonment who had previously been acquitted by the subordinate court.

Two hundred others were sentenced to various jail terms.