US embassy cable - 03KATHMANDU145

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000145 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
LONDON FOR POL - RIEDEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, MCAP, PTER, PGOV, NP 
SUBJECT: NEPAL:  ARMY TO COURT-MARTIAL TWO IN HUMAN RIGHTS 
CASE; HOME MINISTRY DEFIES COURT ORDER TO RELEASE DETAINEES 
 
REF: KATHMANDU 0087 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
RNA TO COURT-MARTIAL TWO IN SHOOTING INCIDENT 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
1.  (U)  On January 25 Defense Secretary Madan Prasad Aryal 
announced in a speech at the Reporters Club that the Royal 
Nepal Army (RNA) will court-martial soldiers involved in the 
November 27 killings of five young men and boys in Nuwakot 
District (Reftel).  (Note:  The RNA maintains the five were 
mistaken for Maoists as they were returning late from a 
funeral in a rural area and failed to identify themselves to 
sentries.  End note.)  On January 27 a member of the RNA 
human rights cell, which had investigated the incident and 
found the five were innocent of Maoist connections, confirmed 
that a captain and one soldier will stand trial in the 
incident.  In addition, the Home Ministry has decided to 
provide approximately USD 1300 each to the families of a 
14-year-old boy and a 23-year-old man killed in the crossfire 
between the RNA and Maoists in Myagdi District in December. A 
final determination of whether to investigate further 
allegations of custodial rape committed by officers in 
Nepalganj, Banke District (Reftel) is still before the Chief 
of Army Staff. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
HOME MINISTRY DEFIES SUPREME COURT ORDERS ON DETAINEES 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
2.  (U)  The Home Ministry has so far failed to respond to 
Supreme Court orders that it release 12 detainees, arrested 
as suspected Maoists and reportedly being held in Kathmandu 
jails, because of insufficient evidence.  On January 5 the 
Supreme Court ordered the release of Dambar Karki, Haridwar 
Kunwar, Shantiram Bhattarai, Narayan Adhikari, and 
16-year-old Chaturman Gurung, all of whom were arrested under 
the Terrorist and Destructive Activities Act (TADA).  (Note: 
The TADA allows for suspects to be held without charge for 60 
days and in preventive detention for up to 90 days.  In 
practice, many detainees have been held without charge for 
much longer periods.  End note.)  The Government of Nepal 
(GON) maintains the five are not in custody, a point disputed 
by family and lawyers, who claim to have seen them in jail. 
On January 23 the Supreme Court ordered the Home Ministry, 
police headquarters, and RNA to show cause why another seven 
detainees, also believed to be held in Kathmandu jails, have 
not been released.  No reply has been received to this order. 
 
3.  (U)  The local press reported that on January 24 
plainclothes security personnel immediately re-arrested 
another detainee, Janak Prasad Adhikari, following his 
release from the district jail in Nuwakot by order of the 
Supreme Court.  The Chief District Officer (CDO) in Nuwakot 
told us January 27 that Adhikari had not been re-arrested by 
district authorities; if others outside the district had 
arrested Adhikari, the CDO knew nothing about it, he asserted. 
 
-------- 
COMMENT 
-------- 
 
4.  (SBU)  The RNA has been stung recently by charges that it 
has failed to hold its soldiers accountable for alleged human 
rights abuses (Reftel).  Most accounts of the Nuwakot 
incident, however, depict it as a tragic mistake that 
occurred as the unidentified group of young men and boys 
advanced on the RNA perimeter at night.  This incident marks 
the first occasion RNA soldiers have been ordered to stand 
court-martial since the Army's deployment against the 
insurgents more than one year ago.  Since the declaration of 
the state of emergency in November 2001, the GON has arrested 
an unknown number of suspects under special anti-terrorism 
legislation.  Few of these suspects have been formally 
charged; even fewer have been tried.  The legal, judicial and 
penal systems are clearly overwhelmed.  Ignoring Supreme 
Court orders to produce detainees, as the Home Ministry seems 
to have elected to do, will do little to ameliorate the 
situation. 
 
MALINOWSKI