Satkhira border guards plead guilty to rebellion
January 20, 2010
Sixteen border guards of Satkhira region have pleaded guilty to rebellion during the bloody events at the BDR’s Peelkhana headquarters at Dhaka in February last year.
The defendants of 7 Rifles Battalion sought mercy on admitting their guilt before a special court on Wednesday.
The special court, formed to try BDR mutiny charges, convened at around 9:30am when 60 BDR personnel, accused of siding with the Peelkhana mutineers, were produced.
The court framed charges on Monday against the accused.
The court convened at the 41 Rifles Battalion headquarters at Taltoli in Satkhira with BDR director general Maj Gen Moinul Islam heading the panel of judges. The two other judges are Lt Col Gazi Khalid Hossain and Maj Lutful Karim. Lt Col Alam is prosecutor of the case.
The 60 border guards, belonging to 7 Rifles Battalion based in Neeldumur of the district, are detained in Satkhira jail.
Charges were brought against them for breach of discipline, vandalism and looting under the BDR Act.
The mutiny trial in Satkhira region is the second after the first such trial was held by a special court in Rangamati in November.
The bloody Feb 25-26 mutiny saw over 73 people, nearly 60 of them army officers deputed to the paramilitary force, brutally killed. Rebellion also spread to other BDR outposts around the country.
On Nov 15, the government formed six special courts, including two in Dhaka, to try some 3,500 border guards accused in some 40 cases around the country.
In the event of a guilty finding, the maximum penalty for rebellion is seven years in jail. The six special courts are trying charges of mutiny, looting and arson. The killings will be tried separately under civil law.
There have been 31 cases filed across the country on charges related to the BDR mutiny.
Source: bdnews24.com
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