More than 150 soldiers in Bangladesh were sentenced to death Tuesday for murder , rape and arson during a 2009 mutiny . `` The convicts will be hanged by the neck until death , '' ruled Mohammad Akhteruzzaman , a senior judge at the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Court , in pronouncing the sentences for the 152 paramilitary border guards . Seventy-four people , including 57 army officers , were killed in the mutiny at the headquarters of Bangladesh 's border guards in Dhaka in February 2009 . Investigators initially brought charges against 850 people , including 23 civilians , but the final judgment was against 846 people . Four suspects died in custody . The accused troopers were indicted on charges of murder , rape , arson , looting weapons and conspiracy . `` We had long been waiting for the verdict and it has cleansed the image of the force stained by the massacre , '' said Maj. Gen. Aziz Ahmed , who now leads the border guards . Several thousand armed soldiers of the Bangladesh Rifles ( BDR ) unit took control of their own headquarters in the capital for two days and massacred scores of people , including officers of the Bangladesh Army who were stationed with the BDR . The civilians in the case include a former lawmaker from the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party , Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu , and an Awami League leader , Torab Ali . State prosecutor Mosharrof Hossain Kazal told CNN that 161 people , including Pintu and Ali , were sentenced to life in prison . A total of 262 people were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three years to 10 years and 271 were acquitted of the charges against them . `` We may appeal against those who were acquitted , '' Kazal said . Shamim Sardar , an attorney for one of those sentenced Tuesday , told reporters justice had not been done and vowed to appeal to a higher court . The mutiny erupted less than two months after the present Awami League government -- led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina -- came to power in January 2009 in a landslide victory . According to the charges , the border guards took up weapons , killed the officers , and held the families of the officers hostage in the staff apartments inside the headquarters compound . The dead also included the then-chief of the border guards , Maj. Gen. Shakil Ahmed , and his wife . The soldiers demanded better pay and perks , as well as the withdrawal of all army officers from the forces . The government later renamed the BDR the Border Guards of Bangladesh . The prime responsibility of the force , which works under the ministry of home affairs , is to guard the country 's 4,000-kilometer ( 2,485-mile ) border with India and Myanmar .
Some defense attorneys plan to appeal the sentences . 74 people were killed in the 2009 takeover of the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters . Civilians were also prosecuted in connection with the mutiny , including two lawmakers . Comment: