Another 23 border guards jailed for mutiny involvement in Bangladesh

A special court in Bangladesh on Sunday sentenced another 23 border guards of the country's paramilitary force to different jail terms for involvement in the February 2009 mutiny. The verdict involved charges linked to Border Guard Bangladesh or BGB (previously known as Bangladesh Rifles or BDR) mutiny on Feb. 25-26, 2009, which took place in BGB headquarters in capital Dhaka and spread to many other stations of the force across the country. According to a Chinese News Agency, the special court also fined 100 taka (1.43 U.S. dollars) for each of the 23. He said the special court in Dinajpur district, some 338 km northwest of capital Dhaka, sentenced the convicts to different terms ranging from four months to six years. He further said the soldiers joined the mutiny at Dinajpur BGB sector on Feb. 26, 2009 expressing solidarity with the mutineers of the force's headquarters in Dhaka, in which 74 people, including 57 Army officers, were killed. With Sunday's 13th verdict, the number of BGB soldiers who were accused and sentenced for the mutiny involvement stood at 456. The Bangladeshi government decided to try the accused for such offenses as killings, attempted murder, looting and arson committed during the mutiny under the penal code. Other offenses like breach of discipline and defying superiors' orders at the BGB headquarters in Dhaka and other stations of the force across the country under BDR (now BGB) laws.

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