One case at final stage, another at testimony level

One of two cases (murder case) filed in connection with BDR Pilkhana mutiny and brutal killing is now awaiting hearing at the Appellate Division.

The trial of another case filed under the Explosive Substances Act has not finished and it is at the testimony level.

A mutiny of border security force BDR (now Border Guard Bangladesh) broke out at its headquarters in Pilkhana and different places on 25 February 2009.

A total of 57 army officers including then director general Major General Shakil Ahmed were brutally killed in the incident. The total number of deaths were 74.

Officers in charge of various responsibilities and their family members had to endure inhuman torture during the two-day mutiny.

In connection with the incident, two cases were filed-- a murder case and a case under the Explosives Substance Act-- on 28 February 2009. As many as 850 people were made accused.

The trial court delivered the verdict of the murder case on 5 November 2013. As many as 152 accused were sentenced to death, 160 were handed life sentences while 256 were sentenced jail for different terms. Four of the accused had passed away before the verdict. Some 278 people were acquitted.

Sources concerned said 206 accused have separately filed 53 appeals and leave to appeals after the verdict of the murder case by the High Court. Meanwhile, the state has filed 20 leave to appeals against 83 accused whose punishment has been commuted and who are acquitted. These appeals and leave to appeals are awaiting hearing.

The state said they have submitted the summary of appeals to the section concerned. The accused have not submitted the summary of their appeals.

About the next procedures of the cases, lawyers said after the filing appeal, the aggrieved party usually provides a summary of appeals to the opponent party. The hearing is held in the court in case of leave to appeal. If the leave to appeal of the aggrieved party is granted, it becomes a regular appeal. The hearing will be held after the completion of these procedures.

After the trial court verdict, the death reference of the accused is sent to the High Court for approval. Following hearing on the death reference and appeal, a special High Court bench comprising three judges delivered the verdict on 26 and 27 November.

The full verdict of High Court was published in January 2020. In the verdict death of 139 accused was upheld. 185 were sentenced to life term while 228 were sentenced to jail at different terms. Some 283 accused including Awami League later leader Toab Ali, who were sentenced to life term, were acquitted. As many as 44 accused died.

After the publication of the verdict, the state filed leave to appeal against the verdict in 2020. The accused filed appeal and leave to appeal separately in 2021 and 2022.

Speaking to Prothom Alo on Tuesday about the case, attorney general AM Amin Uddin said the hearing was not being held as the accused did not submit the summary of the appeal. So the state has applied for the submission of the summary of the accused. When this application will come to the court, then an urge will be made to fix time for the accused for the submission of the summary. After receiving summary, the appeals will be analysed.

The attorney general hopes the hearing of the case will be started this year after completion of these procedures.

Md Aminul Islam was the lawyer of over three hundred convicted accused including then BDR DAD Syed Touhid Alam whose sentence was upheld in the High Court.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, he said they will try to submit the summary by the next month.

The case filed under the Explosive Substances Act hasn’t been completed in 14 years. Out of the 1,344 witnesses of the case, 257 have given their statements in 137 working days. The forthcoming 27 and 28 February have been fixed as the next dates for witness statements. The trial is taking place at a makeshift court at the field besides Madrasah-e-Alia in Old Dhaka’s Bakshibazar. A total of 834 have been accused in the case. 42 of them have already passed away. 19 are fugitives. The remaining 773 are in prison.

One of the state counsels in the case Mosharraf Hossain Kajol told Prothom Alo, the trial is taking place four days a month. 257 witnesses have already said their accounts. Now, as per Section 164, the magistrates who took the statements of the accused are giving their accounts. He is hopeful that the trial will reach its conclusion in the running year.

One of the defence advocates Md Aminul Islam told Prothom Alo, many of the acquitted from the murder case are accused in the Explosives case. And those who were sentenced 10 years in prison in the murder case have already finished their term. But as they are accused in the Explosives case, they are still imprisoned. The total number of acquitted in the murder case and the accused who have already served their sentences is 500. But they can’t get released as they are not getting bail in the Explosive Substances case.

The relatives of the accused also want the trial to end quickly. Elder brother of one of the accused Kamrul Hasan told Prothom Alo on Tuesday said his brother Atikur Rahman (a former BDR sipahi) has been in prison since 2009. He was acquitted in the murder case. But he is also accused in the Explosive Substances case. He said that if the trial ends quickly, those who are innocent will be free.

Besides the two cases, the BGB conducted its own trial, the summary trial, under its law on the mutiny in Pilkhana and other places. In that trial, 10,973 were handed sentences on different terms. Out of them, 8,759 were fired. The rest rejoined the force after serving their administrative punishment. The trials were held in special courts across the country. In 57 cases, 5,926 soldiers were sentenced to different terms.

After the mutiny in 2009, the BDR was restructured. The force was renamed Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).