Bangladesh 2009 Mutiny Gets 152 Sentenced To Death

Bangladesh 2009 Mutiny Gets 152 Sentenced To Death

A court in Bangladesh sentenced 152 people to death this Tuesday for their actions in the 2009 mutiny orchestrated by unsatisfied border guards. In the events that took place the border guards killed several dozen military commanders over the course of two days.

The accused border guards come from a paramilitary group that is known as the Bangladesh Rifles. They demanded bigger salaries, at least at the level of what regular army commanders make and more high paying U.N. assignments.

The events kicked off in the Dhaka compound just inside the capital of the country. During the two days if insurrection 74 people were killed 57 of which were military personnel.

The event marked a new low point the tense relation between government and military leaders in the poor South Asian country of Bangladesh. Historically army leaders have tried to topple the fragile Bangladeshi government 21 times, succeeding twice.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Court gave this Tuesday’s verdicts in a courtroom that was filled to the brink. Besides the 152 death sentences the court also sentenced 161 people to life imprisonment, 256 people were given prison terms ranging from three to ten years and 277 people were acquitted.

Countless human right groups have contested the trial saying that 47 of the accused died during the investigation and that the others lacked proper legal representation.

Posted by James Fried on Wednesday November 06 2013, 2:28 AM EST. Ref: washingtonpost. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0