 "Bangladesh court set to deliver verdict in 2009 BDR mutiny case")
Tight security was enforced around a Bangladesh court here today ahead of a crucial verdict against nearly 800 ex-border guards accused of killing 74 people, including 57 army officers, staging a failed mutiny in 2009.
In what is being dubbed as the world's biggest ever criminal trial, the officials said of over 1300 listed witnesses, 655 prosecution and 27 defence witnesses testified before the court which wrapped up the trial of the 846 rebel soldiers and several civilians on October 20.
The accused, if found guilty, could be handed down death penalty for the carnage in February 2009.
"The accused too are being brought to the court from (the nearby Dhaka Central Jail) prison under extra security vigil with police escorting the prison vans," a police official told PTI.
"It is possibly one of the biggest criminal trial in the world in terms of the number of accused, witnesses testified and the people killed...It is unique they got normal trial under the ordinary law of the country," chief prosecutor Anisul Huq had earlier said.
He had said, "I hope the justice will be properly meted out when the judgement will be delivered."
Dhaka's the then sessions Judge Johurul Haque initiated the trial proceedings on January 5, 2011 against the ex-soldiers of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), which subsequently was renamed as Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) under a massive reconstruction campaign to overcome the mutiny stigma.
The rebel soldiers staged the mutiny at the BDR's Pilkhana headquarters at the heart of the capital on February 25, 2009, and it quickly spread at sector headquarters and regional units of the frontier force across the country.
The paramilitary soldiers turned their guns on their commanders, shooting them from close range or hacking and torturing them to death, hiding their bodies in sewers.
They staged the revolt during the annual Darbar or meeting of soldiers with the top brasses. The then BDR chief Major General Shakil Ahmed was their first victim.
The killings took place at Pilkhana only during the three-day mutiny, while the rebel soldiers outside Dhaka just defied the command, took charges of the armory and came out of their barracks confining their commanders from military inside.
In what is being dubbed as the world's biggest ever criminal trial, the officials said of over 1300 listed witnesses, 655 prosecution and 27 defence witnesses testified before the court which wrapped up the trial of the 846 rebel soldiers and several civilians on October 20.
The accused, if found guilty, could be handed down death penalty for the carnage in February 2009.
More From This Section
Security officials said over 1,000 policemen and members of elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) forces were guarding the makeshift court complex at old Dhaka as Judge Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman of the Third Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge is set to deliver the judgement today.
"The accused too are being brought to the court from (the nearby Dhaka Central Jail) prison under extra security vigil with police escorting the prison vans," a police official told PTI.
"It is possibly one of the biggest criminal trial in the world in terms of the number of accused, witnesses testified and the people killed...It is unique they got normal trial under the ordinary law of the country," chief prosecutor Anisul Huq had earlier said.
He had said, "I hope the justice will be properly meted out when the judgement will be delivered."
Dhaka's the then sessions Judge Johurul Haque initiated the trial proceedings on January 5, 2011 against the ex-soldiers of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), which subsequently was renamed as Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) under a massive reconstruction campaign to overcome the mutiny stigma.
The rebel soldiers staged the mutiny at the BDR's Pilkhana headquarters at the heart of the capital on February 25, 2009, and it quickly spread at sector headquarters and regional units of the frontier force across the country.
The paramilitary soldiers turned their guns on their commanders, shooting them from close range or hacking and torturing them to death, hiding their bodies in sewers.
They staged the revolt during the annual Darbar or meeting of soldiers with the top brasses. The then BDR chief Major General Shakil Ahmed was their first victim.
The killings took place at Pilkhana only during the three-day mutiny, while the rebel soldiers outside Dhaka just defied the command, took charges of the armory and came out of their barracks confining their commanders from military inside.