UN asks Nepal to jail armymen convicted of Maina’s murder

Kathmandu / Apr. 18: The United Nations has welcomed the conviction of three Nepal Army officials on Maina Sunar’s extrajudicial killing during Maoist conflict, and asked the Government of Nepal to implement life sentence against them without delay.

It said the Kavre District Court’s ruling is a “significant step towards ensuring victims’ rights to justice and providing redress for those who have lost loved ones during the decade-long conflict.

“The ruling will help in ending impunity and strengthening the rule of law,” a statement issued by the UN Office of the Resident Coordinator in Nepal said.

It asked the government to implement the court’s ruling without delay, as well as court judgments in all other conflict-era cases.

The Kavre District Court on Sunday issued its verdict on 15-year-old Maina Sunuwar’s murder case on Sunday, slapping life sentence on Nepal Army’s the then Colonel Babi Khatri and Captain duo Amit Pun and Sunil Adhikari. Another official, Major Niranjan Basnet, however, was acquitted in the case.

The ninth grader at local Bhagawati Secondary School, Sunar was killed at the Birendra Peace Operations Training Centre, Panchkhal, on February 17, 2004 in the Nepal Army’s custody.

This is the first ever case in which any army official was convicted of a crime during the decade-long armed conflict (1996-2006).

“The United Nations counts on the Government to promptly implement the Supreme Court’s ruling of February 2015 by amending the Transitional Justice legislation in accordance with the judgment and international standards,” the statement said.