The fresh call came Wednesday on the sixth anniversary of the torture and killing of Maina, who was 15 at the time. The alleged death at the army´s training center in Kavre district is one of the emblematic cases of human rights violation from the conflict years.
“For the past six years, OHCHR has been just one voice among many calling for justice in the case of Maina Sunar," said Nepal chief of the UN right body, Richard Bennett.
Though Kavre District Court has ordered the arrest of army officers Bobby Khatri, Amit Pun, Sunil Adhikari and Niranjan Basnet - the four accused in connection with the killing, the government is yet to enforce the court order. Moreover, the Nepal army (NA) is harboring Basnet, the only serving officer among the four, by not handing over him to police as ordered by the court. Another court order to suspend Basnet is yet to be honored by the army.
“The Army´s non-cooperation with a court order threatens to undermine the independence of the judiciary and sets a negative precedent for all human rights cases, including those involving other groups such as the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) where, in other much publicized cases, the orders of legal authorities are being defied," Bennett said in the statement.
Similarly, six national and international human rights organizations- Accountability Watch Committee, Insec, Advocacy Forum, Amnesty International and International Commission of Jurists, have jointly expressed their concern over alleged obstruction of criminal proceedings in Maina´s case by Nepali authorities. They urged the authorities to stop obstruction of criminal proceedings in the case.
They wrote an open letter to Attorney General Bharat Bahadur Karki on Wednesday, drawing his attention to obstruction of the criminal proceedings and urging him to stop such obstruction.
"Maina´s death has come to embody the widespread injustices and failure of accountability experienced by thousands of Nepalis today," the human rights organizations said in a joint statement.
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