Nepal court says no amnesty for serious war-time abusers
January 03, 2014 - Nepal's Supreme Court has told the government it must ensure serious
human rights violators are not given amnesties by a truth and reconciliation commission
which will investigate crimes committed during a decade-long civil war. Human rights
workers and victims' groups had feared that the government's plan for a reconciliation
commission could mean pardons for serious violators of human rights. More than 16,000
people were killed and thousands were wounded in the civil war that pitted Maoist
guerrillas against government forces from 1996 to 2006. Hundreds of people simply
disappeared. A coalition government headed by the Maoist former rebels prepared legislation
last year to set up a truth and reconciliation commission, as stipulated in the agreement
that ended the war. But the Supreme Court said the panel could not offer amnesty
in the most serious cases. "Cases involving grave human rights violations can't be
the subject for amnesty and where amnesty should be granted the participation and
consent of the victims is compulsory," Baburam Dahal, assistant court spokesman, said
on Friday. Rights workers accused both the security forces and the rebels of abuses
such as killings, rape, torture and disappearances during the war. Human rights lawyer
Hari Phuyal welcomed the court's ruling as a "landmark decision". The Supreme Court
and lower courts have issued warrants in abuse cases in the past but those orders
have not been implemented and no arrests have been made. In January last year, an
army colonel on holiday in Britain was arrested on charge of torturing two people.
He is the most senior Nepali officer to be arrested in connection with abuses during
the conflict. Setting up the commission could be delayed as political parties are
struggling to pull together a coalition after elections in November produced a deeply
fragmented parliament. U.N. human rights officials have said perpetrators of serious
war crimes should be punished to ensure peace can be sustained in one of the world's
poorest countries. (Source: Reuter)