Bangladesh sets tribunals to prosecute February mutineers

Nov 16, 2009, 7:04 GMT

   Dhaka - Bangladesh has set up six special military courts to prosecute over 3,000 paramilitary soldiers allegedly involved in a bloody mutiny in February, media reports said Monday.

   Two of the tribunals will deal with alleged mutineers at the Dhaka headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) border force, the New Age newspaper said. The other courts are to try cases stemming from incidents outside the capital.

   'The trial process of the mutineers have formally been started with the formation of the courts,' BDR chief Major General Mainul Islam, who will chair each of the three-member panels, told ABC radio.

   The special courts were established nearly nine months after the mutiny that left at least 74 people including 57 army officers dead at the BDR headquarters.

   The tribunals will only try the troops accused of mutiny under the Bangladesh Rifles Order 1972.

   Personnel and civilians charged with other criminal offences such as killing and looting are to be tried by a standard courts under the penal code.

   Authorities detained as many as 3,000 soldiers and a few civilians allegedly involved in the mutiny. Britain's Scotland Yard and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation assisted in probing the cases.