The government has appointed 20 special public prosecutors (PPs) to conduct a case filed under the Explosive Substances Act filed with Lalbagh Police Station centring the 2009 BDR mutiny.
The solicitor wing of the Law Ministry on Monday issued a notification in this regard on November 3.
The 20 newly-appointed special public prosecutors include: Md Borhan Uddin, Forhad Niyon, Zakir Hossain Bhuiyan, Mst Robhana Nasrin Shefali, Mohammad Jahangir Hossain, Md Mohiuddin Chowdhury, Md Shafiul Boshor Sajal, Golam Moktadir Uzzal, Hannan Bhuiyan, Md Abdul Latif, Md Mehedi Hasan Jewel, Gazi Mashkurul Alam Sourabh, Md Helel Uddin, Md Zillur Rahman, Md Mahfujur Rahman Elias, Md Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury, Md Mehebub Hossain, Md Mizanur Rahman Shihab, Md Khurshid Alam and Ajgar Hossain.
Of the twenty, Md Borhan Uddin will enjoy the status and other benefits of an additional attorney general, Forhad Niyon and Zakir Hossain Bhuiyan will enjoy the status and other benefits of a deputy attorney general and the remaining 17 special public prosecutors will enjoy the status and other benefits of assistant attorney generals.
The government had earlier, on September 9, 2024, cancelled the appointment of 17 special public prosecutors (PPs) in the case. The BDR mutiny on February 25-26, 2009 at the headquarters of the border security force resulted in deaths of 74 people, including 57 army officers.
The incident sent shockwaves across the nation and drew international attention. After the mutiny, the force was renamed from BDR to Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), and changes were made to their uniforms.
While the mutiny was tried in the BGB court, the murder case was brought to a civilian court. Two cases emerged from the incident: one for murder and another under the explosives law. Due to the explosives case, 468 BDR members who had been acquitted or completed their sentences in the murder case remain in custody.
In the murder case, a trial court on November 5, 2013, gave death sentences to 150 BDR soldiers and two civilians, and jailed 161 others for life for their roles and involvement in the carnage. It also handed down rigorous imprisonment to 256 people, mostly BDR soldiers.
The court acquitted the remaining 277 accused, but the government later appealed against the acquittal of 69 of them.
On November 27, 2017, a special HC bench pronounced the verdict that confirmed death penalty for 139 out of the 152 accused who were awarded capital punishment by the trial court.
The HC also awarded life term imprisonment to 185 accused and jailed other 200 accused for different terms and acquitted 45.
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