Dhaka: A special Bangladeshi court on Monday
jailed 61 border guards for a maximum of seven years for
revolting in northeast Sylhet district as part of the 2009
bloody mutiny that killed 74 people, including 57 army
officers.
Special Court-14, headed by Col SM Farhad, sentenced
61 personnel of Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB) to jail terms
ranging from four months to seven years for their involvement
in the mutiny in Sylhet headquarters, some 173 kilometres from
the capital, the Star online said today.
The court also fined them Taka 100 each, according to
the report on the website of The Daily Star newspaper.
Syeduzzaman, the then officer-in-charge of Sylhet
Kotwali Police Station, filed three separate cases with the
Chief Judicial Magistrate`s Court on May 18 in 2009 against
the mutineers of Sylhet sector and two separate battalions
under the sector, the report said.
The paramilitary border guards, who now are part of
the revamped Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), were accused of
looting firearms and ammunition from armoury, setting fire to
vehicles and putting up barricades on the Sylhet-Sunamganj
highway.
At least 74 people, including the then BDR chief Major
General Shakil Ahmed were killed in the February 25-26 mutiny
at Peelkhana in the capital.
The trial of hundreds of rebel soldiers is underway in
special BDR courts on ordinary mutiny charges under the BDR
Act, which prescribe a maximum imprisonment of seven years for
breaching command or indiscipline.
Several hundred soldiers have already been jailed
under the process.
On January 16, 23 jawans of Border Guard Bangladesh`s
40 Rifles Battalion were sentenced to jail terms up to six
years by the Special Court-13 for their involvement in the
2009 mutiny in Phulbari sub-division of Dinajpur district.
On January 13, Special Court-15 had jailed 46 border
guards to prison terms ranging from four months to seven years
for the rebellion in Matiranga sub-division in Chittagong`s
Khagrachhari district.
In 2009, Bangladesh set up six "special courts" to try
the rebellious soldiers for the bloody mutiny by the
paramilitary force, earlier known as Bangladesh Rifles (BDR).
PTI
