The Dhaka court awarded death to 152 personnel of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), previously known as Bangladesh Rifles (BDR).

   During a mass verdict in the 2009 BDR mutiny murder case, which is considered largest of its type in world history, 161 people including two leaders of ruling of Bangladesh Awami League party and opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party have been sentenced to life imprisonment.

   Another 271 were acquitted of all charges.

   The court also awarded jail terms ranging from 3 years to 10  years to 262 border guards.

  The court of Dhaka’s Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman delivered the verdict Tuesday.

  A total of 850 people including 823 BDR jawans and 23 civilians were accused in the case. Of the accused, 813 are detained, 13 are on bail, 20 are on the run while four have died in custody.

   It was not known immediately whether any of the civilians accused in the case was awarded death sentence.

   All the accused have the right to appeal with the apext court against their convictions.

   Defence lawyers have branded the trial as a “farce” and said that they would challenge the verdict.

   The Bangladeshi government had earlier decided to try the accused for such offenses as killings, attempted murder, looting and arson committed during the mutiny under the penal code.

   Other offenses like breach of discipline and defying superiors’ orders at the BGB headquarters in Dhaka and other stations of the force across the country under BDR laws through formation of the special courts.

   The maximum punishment under the penal code is death sentence, while under the BDR laws it is seven years’ imprisonment.

   The special courts of BGB had earlier awarded jail terms ranging from four months to seven years to nearly 6,000 border guards of the force’s 57 units.

   Of the 6,042 guards who were tried since April, 2010, a BGB official who preferred to be unnamed told Xinhua that “5, 926 guards of total 57 units were jailed and 115 acquitted.”

   The trial of the Bangladesh’s border guards facing charges of serious mutiny crimes at the paramilitary force’s headquarters in February 2009 began 2011 in a court in capital Dhaka.

   Mutiny trials continued despite the New York-based Human Rights Watch had urged the government to immediately halt mass trial proceedings.

   “Those responsible for the horrific violence that left 74 dead should be brought to justice, but not with torture and unfair trials,” Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch in July last year told a press briefing, which was organized to release a report of the HRW titled “The Fear Never Leaves Me: Torture, Custodial Deaths, and Unfair Trials After the 2009 Mutiny of the Bangladesh Rifles”

    “Mass trials like these simply cannot provide justice for victims, or real answers about who was responsible for the terrible crimes committed during the mutiny,” he added.

   The then Bangladeshi Home Minister Advocate Sahara Khatun later rejected the HRW report saying some local and foreign agents are hatching conspiracies to put the government and law enforcement agencies into trouble.

   The BDR revolt, which took place less than two months after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took office for the second time, threatened the stability of her government and raised fears of military intervention.

   BDR soldiers staged revolt against their army officers reportedly over salary and other benefits.

   An official probe into the mutiny blamed that his incident is the outburst of many years of pent up grievances of the BDR soldiers over ignored pleas for pay hikes.

   Hasina chose a negotiated settlement instead of calling in the army to quell the revolt. During the mutiny, over 7,000 BDR personnel were reportedly present at the headquarters of the paramilitary force which, with around 67,000 members, is guarding the country’s long border line of 4,427 km with India and Myanmar.   Enditem