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Pilkhana carnage: High Court upholds death for 139 of 152 Bangladesh soldiers

Pilkhana carnage: High Court upholds death for 139 of 152 Bangladesh soldiers

Bangladesh

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The High Court has upheld death sentences for 139 people for their roles in the country?s bloodiest mutiny at the border guards? headquarters in Dhaka

The Bangladesh High Court has upheld the death penalty of 139 convicted soldiers for brutally killing 74 army officers and several civilians during the 2009 BDR mutiny.

According to media reports, a three-member bench judge-led by Justice Md. Shawkat Hossain gave the judgment of sending 185 accused to life imprisonment and declared different prison terms to 196 and acquitted 49.

The historic verdict included Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique and Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder as the other members of the bench who heard the death references and appeals against convictions.

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Reports say that six out of the 846 allegedly accused in thehad died during the course of the trial.

On February 25-26 in 2009, members of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), killed 57 army officers and around 17 civilians during the mutiny force's Pilkhana headquarters.

The mutiny had carried on for two days, a month after a new government was appointed, sending shock waves across Bangladesh and to the rest of the world.

This is the first time so many defendants, 856 in total, had been tried in a single case in the history of Bangladesh.