61 border guards jailed for 2009 bloody mutiny in B''desh

Dhaka, Jan 31 (PTI) A special Bangladeshi court todayjailed 61 border guards for a maximum of seven years forrevolting in northeast Sylhet district as part of the 2009bloody mutiny that killed 74 people, including 57 armyofficers.

Special Court-14, headed by Col SM Farhad, sentenced61 personnel of Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB) to jail termsranging from four months to seven years for their involvementin the mutiny in Sylhet headquarters, some 173 kilometres fromthe capital, the Star online said today.

The court also fined them Taka 100 each, according tothe report on the website of The Daily Star newspaper.

Syeduzzaman, the then officer-in-charge of SylhetKotwali Police Station, filed three separate cases with theChief Judicial Magistrate''s Court on May 18 in 2009 againstthe mutineers of Sylhet sector and two separate battalionsunder the sector, the report said.

The paramilitary border guards, who now are part ofthe revamped Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), were accused oflooting firearms and ammunition from armoury, setting fire tovehicles and putting up barricades on the Sylhet-Sunamganjhighway.

At least 74 people, including the then BDR chief MajorGeneral Shakil Ahmed were killed in the February 25-26 mutinyat Peelkhana in the capital.

The trial of hundreds of rebel soldiers is underway inspecial BDR courts on ordinary mutiny charges under the BDRAct, which prescribe a maximum imprisonment of seven years forbreaching command or indiscipline.

Several hundred soldiers have already been jailedunder the process.

On January 16, 23 jawans of Border Guard Bangladesh''s40 Rifles Battalion were sentenced to jail terms up to sixyears by the Special Court-13 for their involvement in the2009 mutiny in Phulbari sub-division of Dinajpur district.

On January 13, Special Court-15 had jailed 46 borderguards to prison terms ranging from four months to seven yearsfor the rebellion in Matiranga sub-division in Chittagong''sKhagrachhari district.

In 2009, Bangladesh set up six "special courts" to trythe rebellious soldiers for the bloody mutiny by theparamilitary force, earlier known as Bangladesh Rifles (BDR).