1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
Live TV
Latest audioLatest videos
In focus
Russia's war in UkraineIsrael-Hamas warIndia elections
Law and Justice

Bangladesh upholds mutiny death sentences

November 27, 2017

A Bangladeshi court has upheld death sentences of 139 soldiers for killing their commanders in a 2009 mutiny. At least 74 people were killed in the insurrection.

https://p.dw.com/p/2oKJj
High Court in Dhaka
Image: DW/Harun Ur Rashid Swapan

 The Bangladeshi High Court in the capital, Dhaka, (above photo) on Monday upheld a death sentence handed down to 139 soldiers in 2013 for killing their commanders during a mutiny eight years ago.

"The verdict has upheld the death sentence for 139 people," Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters after a three-member panel of judges made its ruling.

The court also upheld life in prison for 146 others found guilty of involvement in killing, looting and other criminal offenses during the two-day mutiny in late February 2009.

Tanks at the scene of the mutiny
The Bangladeshi army sent troops to quell the mutiny, in which scores diedImage: STR/AFP/Getty Images

'Unfair' trials

At least 74 people, including 57 senior officers, were killed in the massacre at the Dhaka headquarters of a paramilitary border force known then as the Bangladesh Rifles. The force has since been renamed the Border Guard Bangladesh.

The mutiny, which had its origins in a dispute over pay and conditions, spread to 12 other towns and cities before ending after negotiations with the government.

The trials over the mutiny, which involved thousands of accused, were condemned as unfair by a number of rights groups. At least 50 suspects were reported to have died in custody from torture and other ill treatment.

Read more: Opinion: Mutiny trial was rightly condemned

Trucks and vehicles outside the courthouse where the sentences were imposed in 2013
The trials in 2015 took place under high securityImage: Reuters

tj/rt (APF, dpa)