BDR Carnage
Charges against 463 more read out
The prosecution lawyer read out charges against 463 more accused of the 2009 Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) carnage in Pilkhana on the third day's charge hearing at a makeshift court in Bakshi Bazar in the city yesterday.
Charges against 340, out of 850 accused including 23 civilians, were read out in the past court proceedings.
Prosecutor SK Baharul Islam read out charges against the accused individually.
He accused Gulzar Hossain, a cook of BDR (now Border Guard Bangladesh), of shooting dead an army officer on the day of the carnage. When the court asked whether a cook could handle firearms, the prosecutor replied everyone in the armed forces have the minimum skill to operate firearms.
In response to journalists' query later, Baharul, however, said the situation was so horrible that anyone could have taken arms and operated them.
The court, beginning around 9:45am and continuing till 1:00pm, adjourned trial proceedings till May 23 when it will hear charges against remaining 45 accused and might frame the charges, said the prosecutor.
In July last year, Criminal Investigation Department pressed charges against 824 jawans and 23 civilians for murder, arson, looting, hiding of bodies and sedition. Of the 850 accused, two are dead and 21 are absconding.
A total of 74 people, including 57 army officers, were killed in the February 25-26 carnage in 2009 at the Pilkhana headquarters of BDR.
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