AI Nepal Activities
Nepal: Promotion of War Crimes Suspect Affront to Justice
The Nepali cabinet’s decision on October 4, 2012, to promote a
colonel suspected of involvement in war crimes to the rank of brigadier
general is a slap in the face for the victims of Nepal’s protracted
civil war, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the
International Commission of Jurists said in a joint press release on 6
October, 2012.
The United Nations and the Nepali National Human
Rights Commission compiled credible evidence of systematic enforced
disappearances and torture at Bhairabnath Battalion headquarters in
Kathmandu under the command of the colonel, Raju Basnet, in 2003. On the
basis of this evidence, in 2007 Nepal’s Supreme Court ordered an
independent investigation and prosecution of these human rights
violations. That order includes allegations that Basnet personally
committed acts of torture.
“Nepal’s cabinet has thrown the entire
idea of holding soldiers accountable for abuses out the door,” said Brad
Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “This cynical and
reprehensible decision seriously undermines respect for human rights and
contradicts Nepal’s assurances to the international community that it
would hold those implicated in wartime crimes to account.”
“Despite
years of promises, the Maoists and the army have shown themselves
united in one crucial aspect: contempt for the notion of accountability
for criminal acts and victims’ rights to justice, truth, and
reparation,” said Polly Truscott, Amnesty International’s South Asia
director.
“With the promotion of Basnet, the denial of justice and
accountability has essentially turned into government policy,” said Sam
Zarifi, Asia director at the International Commission of Jurists. “This
decision is basically the current Nepali government saying it does not
care about the rule of law, does not care about its own Supreme Court
directives, and indeed, does not care about the best interests of its
own citizens. This promotion is a signal to all perpetrators that power
trumps justice.”
In joint press release, the rights groups called
on the international community to urge the Nepali government to revoke
its decision. “Nepali civil society, with support from the UN and the
international community, has spent years seeking to promote justice and
accountability,” Adams said. “By promoting Col. Basnet, the government
has sent a clear signal to the Nepali people and the country’s
international supporters that it not committed to these same goals.”
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