(Updated with details, quotes at 2125 NST, 1640 GMT)
Journalist Rishi Dhamala files candidacy from Rautahat-4
KATHMANDU, April 10: The Patan Appellate Court on Friday released Reporters´ Club Chairman Rishi Dhamala who has been imprisoned at the Dillibazaar prison since February 27 on charge of committing crime related to arms and ammunition.
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Friday´s order means Dhamala will be released on general date on Sunday after the District Administration Office (DAO), Kathmandu, writes to the prison authorities to set him free. [break]
However, the criminal cases against him will continue at the Kathmandu DAO despite his release.
The district administration has accused Dhamala and three others of explosions in Kathmandu in 2007 that were owned by underground armed group Rana Bir Sena.
"The February 27 order of the DAO to send Dhamala to the prison until the case is finalized is not right," Judges Mohan Prasad Ghimire and Dr Ananda Mohan Bhattarai said while nullifying the administration´s order.
However, the court refused to release journalists and co-accused – Ram Shuvak Mahato, Birendra Kumar Mahato and Manoj Kumar Mahato – saying that the available evidence seized from them proves that they should not be released until the cases against them are finalized.
On March 13, the Kathmandu District Court had ordered the police to release Dhamala in the cases related to attempted murder and kidnap. But the order had not been effective due to the DAO´s February27 order sending high-flying Dhamala to the prison. The cases against him are under consideration at the district court.
"It is the victory of press freedom," Dhamala told myrepublica.com from the Tribhuvan Teaching Hospital where he has been admitted for ailment on his lungs.
He was not present when the court passed his release at the end of a day-long hearing at the court because his doctor did not allow.
Dhamala said that his doctor has told him that he should be in the hospital for a week for treatment.
"The court order on Friday proved my claim since my arrest on February 3 that I am innocent and am victim of state conspiracy," he further said.
While ordering his release, the court said that the available evidence showed that there was no need to continue his imprisonment until the cases against him are finalized.
