The High Court has published its full text verdict of the 2009 BDR mutiny case, making it the largest case in the country considering the total number of convicts.
On Wednesday, the 29,590-pages full text verdict was published at 10:30am after the three conducting justice signed on it.
Deputy Attorney General (DAG) AKM Amin Uddin Manik confirmed the matter to Dhaka Tribune and said the full verdict will be published on the Supreme Court website soon.
Justice Md Shawkat Hossain, Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique and Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder delivered their verdict on the case on 27 and 28 November in 2017.
The High Court in the appeal verdict confirmed the gallows for 139 out of 152 accused, who were sentenced to death by a Dhaka court, in a case filed over the killing of 74 army officers and civilians during the 2009 BDR mutiny.
Eight of the 13 other accused were sentenced to life imprisonment by the High Court. The court acquitted four. Another accused had died during the trial.
The three-member High Court bench, in an unanimous verdict, also sent a total of 185 accused to jail for life, awarded different prison terms to 196 and acquitted 49 others.
On November 5, 2013, the trial court had sentenced 150 personnel of the now defunct BDR and two civilians to death, and jailed 161 for life for their involvement in the carnage. It had also handed down rigorous imprisonment to 256 people, mostly BDR soldiers, and acquitted 277.
Apart from this, Lalbagh police had began another one case under the Explosive Substance Act on March 4, 2009. On July 27, 2010, police submitted the charge sheet against 808 accused.
A Dhaka court framed charges against them in August 2011. The case proceedings, however, is still underway with the court set to resume recording of statements of prosecution witnesses from January 7, 2018.
On February 25-26 in 2009, disgruntled members of the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), later rechristened as Border Guard Bangladesh, had killed 57 army officers who were deputed at the force and 17 civilians during the mutiny at the force’s Pilkhana headquarters.
