Dhaka: A Dhaka court on Tuesday sentenced to death 152 former paramilitary soldiers in what has been dubbed the world’s biggest criminal trial.

More than 800 ex-paramilitary soldiers stood accused of murdering 74 people, including 57 army officers, during a revolt in February 2009.

“They will be hanged by the neck until they are dead,” Judge Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman of the Third Additional Metropolitan Sessions Court said.

Former deputy assistant director of the-then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) — and what is now called Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) — Touhid Ahmad, a soldier-turned-officer who appeared to be the key leader of the mutineers was among the convicts to get the capital punishment.

***Out of 846 accused, 26 of them civilians, the court handed down life imprisonment to 158 rebel soldiers and three to 10 years of imprisonment to 251 others and acquitted 271 finding their no involvement during the February25-26 carnage.

Two of the civilians who were handed life terms included former lawmaker of main opposition BNP Nasiruddin Ahmad Pintu and Awami League leader of the neighbourhood and ex-BDR soldier Torab Ali, who were found guilty of collaborating with the mutineers.

“Justice has been meted out ... the families which lost their close relatives and the people like us who lost their colleagues and friends will get some consolation,” BGB chief Major General Aziz Ahmad told reporters soon after the judgement was delivered.

Tight security was enforced around the makeshift court complex on government grounds of Alia Madrasah at Bakshibazar area in Old Dhaka. The accused were brought by prison vans from the nearby Dhaka Central Jail as they heard the judgement from a huge caged dock.

They returned to the prison under tighter security escorts to wait for the next judicial procedures in line with the verdict. Relatives of victims and convicts crowded the court complex along with hundreds of onlookers as elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) troops surrounded the area.

Prosecution lawyers said they would decide soon on challenging the acquittal of the 242 soldiers before the High Court but added that this was unlikely.

“[It is] possibly one of the biggest criminal trials 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 in the case, Anisul Huq, earlier told Gulf News as the court set the date for the verdict.

Court officials said out of over 1,300 listed witnesses, 655 prosecution and 27 defence witnesses testified before the court, which on October 20 wrapped up the trial of the 846 rebel soldiers and several civilians who, if found guilty, could be handed down death penalty for the carnage.

Trial background

Dhaka’s then sessions judge, Johurul Haque, initiated the trial proceedings on January 5, 2011 against the ex-soldiers of BDR, which subsequently was renamed as Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) under a massive reconstruction campaign to remove the mutiny stigma.

The rebel soldiers staged the mutiny at BDR’s Pilkhana headquarters, in the heart of the capital. on February 25, 2009. The mutiny quickly spread at sector headquarters and regional units of the frontier force across the country.

The rebellion saw the paramilitary soldiers turn their guns on their commanders, shooting some from close range or hacking and torturing them to death. They hid their bodies in sewers and hurriedly dug graves. They also detained and harassed frightened family members in barracks.

They staged the revolt, for what they alleged was their “deprivation”, on a date coinciding with the annual Darbar or meeting of ordinary soldiers with the top brass. The then BDR chief, Major-General Shakil Ahmad, was their first victim.

The mutiny’s casualties all occurred at Pilkhana when rebel soldiers outside Dhaka defied the command, took charge of the armoury and detained commanders from the military inside the barracks.

The mutiny exposed the new government of Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina, which had been elected only a month earlier, to its biggest challenge, while anger mounted among the army officers as they lost 57 colleagues serving the paramilitary border force on deputation.