BD jails 182 border guards for 2009 mutiny involvement

A special court in Bangladeshs capital Dhaka awarded jail terms ranging from four months to seven years to another 182 border guards, bringing the total incarcerated for their involvement in the February 2009 horrendous mutiny to 3,036.Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), previously known as Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), spokesman Mohsin Reza, told Xinhua that the special court also fined each of the convicted soldiers 100 taka (US$1.43).Twenty of the accused soldiers were awarded with the highest seven-year imprisonment term while seven received the lowest four months in the latest verdict, he said, adding the court, however, acquitted five men of the charge of a two-day mutiny.The paramilitary BDR in November 2009 constituted six special courts to try thousands of guards accused in dozens of cases in connection with the bloody mutiny on Feb 25-26, 2009, which left 74 people dead, including 57 army officers. On the first day of the two-day mutiny, the head of BDR Maj. Gen Shakil Ahmed was shot dead by mutineers.The mutiny that started in BDRs headquarters in the capital Dhaka spread quickly to almost all the paramilitary forces posts across the country, with thousands of soldiers taking up arms against their commanding officers in the Bangladesh Army in the worst rebellion in the history of the South Asian nation of over 160 million people.Of the 3,113 guards who have so far been tried, Reza said, 3,036 have been jailed and 77 acquitted.Another 2,932 have been charged and are awaiting trial in the special courts.The Bangladeshi government decided to try the accused for such offences as killings, attempted murder, looting and arson committed during the mutiny under the penal code.Other offences included 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.The maximum punishment under the penal code is the death sentence, while under the BDR laws it is seven years imprisonment.