E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, DEC 09 - The Amnesty International (AI) has urged the government to immediately pursue the arrest of Maj. Niranjan Basnet expelled last week from a UN peacekeeping mission in Chad.

In a statement on Wednesday, AI said that Maj. Basnet must be arrested and prosecuted by a civilian court for his alleged involvement in Maina Sunuwar's murder.

Major Basnet was one of four soldiers charged by the Kavre District Court with Maina Sunuwar's killing in Feb. 2004. All four remain at large.

"Instead of ensuring Major Basnet's arrest and prosecution, the Nepal Army allowed him to continue performing his duties (contrary to the Army Act) and has so far failed to cooperate with the civilian investigations," reads the AI statement. 

The United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York has instructed Nepali authority to repatriate him.

A military court had given Basnet a clean chit on Sunuwar's case, and based on which NA sent him to the UN peace mission in Chad.

"We have serious concerns that these military proceedings were neither independent nor impartial." said Jonathan O'Donohue, of AI's International Justice Programme. "Maj. Basnet must be prosecuted by a civilian court for his alleged involvement in Sunuwar's murder. If he is still in Chad, the government should request the UN Mission to detain him and to ensure his transfer back to Nepal to face trial."

AI has also expressed concern that given the lack of an effective system of vetting in the Nepal Army many other perpetrators of such serious human rights violations might be serving in UN missions.

Posted on: 2009-12-09 05:12

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