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| Bangladesh |
| Mutiny initiators under spotlight |
| 2010-04-18 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] Sepoy Moin, who first attempted to kill the former BDR DG, is still at large, but his 623 colleagues from 13 Rifle Battalion were hauled before the Special Court-5 as alleged mutineers yesterday. Subedar Major Sheikh Zubaiyer, an old bearded man in uniform, was sitting on the first seat in front row dock along with the alleged mutineers. He drew special attention yesterday as he allegedly coordinated dumping of 10 officers' bodies into a mass grave at a vegetable garden. As the BDR special courts are only dealing with the charges of mutiny, the prosecution did not place charges for grievous offences committed by many of the 623 accused. But some BDR officials and lawyers who are involved in the persecution told The Daily Star many of these alleged mutineers were involved in the carnage during the 33-hour mutiny on February 25-26 last year. Around half a dozen of the accused were directly involved in the killing of the army officers in and out of the Darbar Hall in Pilkhana where they were sitting yesterday to face trial as the paramilitary force set up the court at the place of occurrence. Prosecutor of the case Lt Col Akhter Hamid Khan, who is also the commanding officer of 13 Rifle Battalion, during his brief submission told court, "Most of the accused are colleagues of Moin, one of the conspirators of the mutiny." He said the accused are initiators of the mutiny and most of the members of the battalion supported Moin to start the mutiny. They did not inform their higher authorities about Moin's plan, he added. The prosecutor told The Daily Star 1,164 BDR men were in the 13 Rifle Battalion during the mutiny and over half of them have been accused in this case. Twenty-three BDR jawans stay out of arrest since mutiny. Of them, 8 including Moin are from 13 Rifle Battalion who have not been included on the accused list, Col Khan said. "As the BDR Act, 1972 doesn't allow trying any accused in absentia, the eight on the run including Moin have not been accused in this case. They will be tried separately once they are arrested," the prosecutor told The Daily Star. Col Khan told the three-member court headed by BDR DG M Mainul Islam that 172 of the accused of 13 Rifle Battalion were in the Darbar Hall on that day to attend Darbar of slain DG Shakil. But the 172 left Darbar Hall disobeying the DG's order, then took up arms and ammunition breaking into the armoury and opened fire and charged grenades. The prosecutor told the court some of them killed army officers, destroyed evidence after the killings, dumped the bodies and held hostage the officers' family members. The prosecution has around hundred witnesses in support of the charges against the accused and have photographs and video footages where it is evident that 36 of the total accused were involved in the mutiny along with other hundreds. After submission of the prosecutor, the president of the court briefed all the accused about the relevant laws regarding mutiny, their rights and how they will proceed with the functions of the court. Two other members of the court are Lt Col AKM Golam Rabbani and Major Sayed Hasan Taposh. Deputy Attorney General Mohammad Ullah Kislu was present at the court with the judges as representative of the attorney general. The court adjourned its proceedings till 10:00am on October 13 and the day has been fixed for hearing on charge framing. |
| Posted by:Fred |