151 get death, 158 awarded life sentence for horrendous Bangladesh mutiny

[webfact]

151 get death, 158 awarded life sentence for horrendous Bangladesh mutiny
English.news.cn

DHAKA, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- A court in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka on Tuesday awarded death to 151 guards of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), previously known as Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), who in February 2009 staged a two-day horrendous mutiny in the country's paramilitary force's headquarters.

Two leaders of the ruling of Bangladesh Awami League party and opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party are among 158 people who were sentenced to life imprisonment in the 2009 BDR mutiny murder case.

Another 271 were acquitted of all charges.

The court also awarded jail terms ranging from three years to 10 years to 251 border guards.

The court of Dhaka's Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman, which started delivering the verdict at around 12: 30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, handed down sentences to 831 accused till 3:15 p.m. local time.

The Bangladeshi government had earlier 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 laws through formation of the special courts.

The maximum punishment under the penal code is death sentence, while under the BDR laws it is seven years' imprisonment.

During the bloody mutiny, 74 people dead, including 57 officers deputed from Army.

The paramilitary force's chief, Major General Shakil Ahmed, was among those killed.

During the mutiny, nearly 8,000 BDR personnel were present at the headquarters of the paramilitary force which, with around 67, 000 members, is guarding the South Asian country's long border line of 4,427 km with India and Myanmar.

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-11/05/c_132861464.htm

-- Xinhua 2013-11-06

[ukrules]

The punishment is more horrendous than the original crime.

151 people are to be executed for the death of 74 people.

The judge needs sending to a war crimes tribunal for the massacre that he's just ordered.

[coma]

If found guilty of a capital crime then the punishment is that. Regardless of how many are guilty. Muntiny causing death is a very serious crime that deserve serious punishment. R.I.P

[pgrahmm]

That is the usual punishment for treason.........

[tingtongteesood]

If you don't want to do the time then don't do the crime. I do agree it seems a little excessive and '2 wrongs don't make a right' and all that but criminals must be punished and this was a very serious incident, an example must be made. I wish Thailand would take its legal system as seriously....

[Lucie]

If you don't want to do the time then don't do the crime. I do agree it seems a little excessive and '2 wrongs don't make a right' and all that but criminals must be punished and this was a very serious incident, an example must be made. I wish Thailand would take its legal system as seriously....

No, that would be a VERY bad idea. A death sentence would be handed out far too easily in cases where the evidence has been tampered with, and the police and/or witnesses bribed.

[Publicus]

Putting aside controversies over the death penalty, the two generals in South Korea who led the 1982 coup were tried after S Korea's first democratically elected government took office in 1992. Both received the death penalty, which then was commuted to life. No coups there since.

This is the same principle, applied on a massive scale instead of being limited to a couple of generals only. It takes more than a general or two to conduct a coup, so let's round 'em all up and put all of 'em away.

Well done, even if the story is from the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece national news propaganda organization, Xinhua English.news.cn. I hadn't known, for instance, that one is "awarded" a death sentence. That's Chinglish, not English. One can be awarded damages by a court of law (be the recipient of), or be awarded as one who is legally entitled positively, based on merit, but awarded a life sentence in prison, or awarded the death penalty, just doesn't cut it in English.

So now we get to read official CCP Chinglish at TVF.

[Scott]

Topic continues here:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/679944-un-rights-chief-says-bangladesh-mutiny-trials-were-unfair/#entry7008997