Bangladesh Rifles soldiers during the 2009 mutiny (photo by Reaz Sumon)
The Bangladesh government should order a retrial of military personnel accused of murder, sexual assault and other atrocities stemming from a 2009 border guard mutiny, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.
Brad Adams, the organization’s Asia director, acknowledged that "it is crucial that those responsible for the horrifying violence are brought to justice." But he went on to say: “Trying hundreds of people en masse in one giant courtroom, where the accused have little or no access to lawyers is an affront to international legal standards. The authorities should instead immediately initiate a credible and fair trial to get justice for the mutiny victims and their families.”
The statement came the day before a Bangladeshi court postponed its long awaited verdict for 823 paramilitary border guards and 23 civilians, including a former opposition lawmaker, over the mutiny in February 2009. The soldiers face the death penalty if convicted while the civilians face jail terms.
The bloody uprising saw members of the Bangladesh Rifles, since renamed the Bangladesh Border Guards, mutiny against their commanding officers. The 33-hour carnage left 74 commanding officers dead. The victims’ bodies were later dumped in sewers and shallow graves. Wives of the officers were reported to have been sexually assaulted.
Human Rights Watch alleged that torture and other abuses were used to extract confessions from those charged, and that the prisoners had limited access to legal counsel and to the knowledge of the charges and evidence brought against them. Additionally, at least 47 suspects have died in custody, the rights body said.
“Torture is routinely used in Bangladesh, and if the government continues to ignore credible allegations of torture of mutiny suspects, the culture of impunity in the country’s security forces will simply continue,” Adams said.
Nearly 6,000 soldiers involved in the mutiny have been jailed by dozens of special military courts. Of them, 823 soldiers, already found guilty, were singled out for prosecution in a civilian court.
Local media reported that the verdict has been rescheduled for November 5.