Nine men, sentenced to death in a case lodged over 2009 carnage in the headquarters of the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), where 74 people including 57 army men were brutally killed, have filed appeal against the High Court judgement that upheld their sentence.
“We filed appeal petitions on behalf of nine death-row-convicts including Kamal Mollah, Moniruzzaman, Eusuf Ali, Abu Sayeed Alam, Anisuzzaman, Fazlul Karim and Bazlur Rashid, with the concerned wing of the Appellate Division on January 5,” defence counsel Advocate Aminul Islam told BSS.
He further said they have submitted 8 34,345 pages of documents, including the copy of lower court judgement and High Court judgement, with their appeal petitions.
“We have filed an application to the Chief Justice for giving us exemption from submitting these documents again while filing appeals for other convicts in the case. If our plea is allowed, we would be able to file appeal for the remaining convicts by January 13,” Advocate Aminul Islam said.
The state has already filed appeal against the High Court judgement that acquitted or commuted sentences of the convicts.
The concerned trial court in its 2013 judgment originally sentenced 152 mutineers to death, one of them died a natural death subsequently, while it handed down life term to 160.
The High Court on November 27, 2017, upheld death penalty for 139 paramilitary soldiers out of 151 for staging the barbaric 2009 carnage in the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) at their Pilkhana headquarters in the heart of the capital.
