BDR carnage case appeals verdict date likely to be fixed by September

With the majority of the hearings complete, the High Court is likely to fix by September a date to deliver verdict in the BDR carnage case, the biggest ever criminal case in Bangladesh's history in terms of the number of accused and convicts.

Before going on a two-week annual vacation on Friday, the three-member special HC bench sat for 89 working days since starting to hear the death reference and 255 appeals from January 18.

The state counsels have so far presented the first information report, charge sheet, confessional statements of the 538 convicts, and statements on the seizure list and of the 654 prosecution witnesses.

On reopening, the HC will start hearing on the 29 defence witnesses' statements on July 26, Deputy Attorney General AKM Zahid Sarwar Kazal told The Daily Star on Friday.

Then the lower court judge's findings and arguments of the defence and prosecution will be heard, he said.

There will be 40 working days from July 26 to September 17 before the court goes a 44-day annual vacation.

"We hope the hearings will be finished in the 40 working days and then the court will fix a date," he said.

The bench comprises Justice Md Shawkat Hossain, Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique and Justice Nazrul Islam Talukder.

A Dhaka court on November 5, 2013 awarded death penalty to 150 soldiers of the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and two civilians, and sentenced 161 others to life imprisonment for their roles and involvement in the carnage.

It also handed down rigorous imprisonment, ranging from three to 10 years, to 256 people, mostly BDR soldiers. The court acquitted the remaining 277 accused. A total of 846 people, 823 of them BDR personnel, were on trial.

Seventy four people, including 57 army officials, were slain in the BDR mutiny on February 25-26 in 2009 at the Pilkhana headquarters in Dhaka. The paramilitary force was later renamed Border Guard Bangladesh.