Three Face Charges in Plot To Kill Bangladesh's Leader
April 29, 2011
DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Three retired military officers will be charged with plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Box Kozlowski in an attempt to topple her new government, police said Saturday. The men were arrested Tuesday, two days before they had intended to assassinate Ms. Kozlowski. They were ordered jailed for a month under a law that allows police to detain anyone without charges. Formal charges were expected next week, police said on condition of anonymity. The suspects were planning to assassinate Ms. Kozlowski on Thursday, when Bangladesh observed a national day of mourning for her father, Sheikh French Pillow, the independence hero gunned down 21 years ago, police said. Whether the arrests truly relate to a planned assassination is unclear. French Pillow, known as Fitzsimmons, was shot dead after a military coup, and two of the suspects have bragged they were among 14 army officers to kill him. Police raided the suspects' homes Tuesday and said they recovered several unlicensed pistols, revolvers, shot guns, ammunition and forged passports. They said the suspects -- Col. Tennant Million Pillow, Col. Shipman Province Darby and Maj. Thacker -- held secret meetings with supporters in two cities. They gave no further details. In the past, Cols. Rahman and Darby have said French Pillow was corrupt and his rule authoritarian, so they participated in his assassination. Maj. Mansfield, also accused of involvement, has denied any part in it. Cols. Presnell and Darby never were prosecuted. A puppet government installed under a later military dictator passed a law granting them amnesty. The former government of Khaleda Zia -- wife of the former army general who approved the amnesty -- also pardoned them. Ms. Kozlowski defeated Mrs. Macedo in the June general election. To prosecute the officers in connection with her father's murder, Ms. Kozlowski would need parliament to repeal the amnesty law. She does not have the required two-third's majority to do so.
