Sapkota said the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal (OHCHR-N), which had earlier this week expressed concern over his appointment as a minister despite allegations of human rights violations against him, was misguided by wrong reports about an incident in question.[break]
He urged the UN body to investigate the reports, which, according to him, are baseless. "The incident is directly related to the people´s war launched by our party. It is not an isolated case and it is not an individual matter," Sapkota told Republica.
The minister also described the allegations against him as being made out of political bias.
The UN body, in its statement, said that Sapkota´s appointment contravenes Nepal´s commitment, as expressed during the Universal Periodic Review process, to accountability for serious human rights violations and abuses committed during the conflict period, and it reinforces the culture of impunity in Nepal.
Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal appointed Sapkota despite a pending charge of his involvement in the abduction and murder of Arjun Lama in Kavre district in 2005. Police had filed a first information report against Sapkota and others at the District Court in Kavre, in pursuit of a Supreme Court order in March 2008.
Officials at the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, however, maintain that the party that recommended his name for ministerial appointment is responsible in the matter.
According to reports from the human rights community, 48-year-old Lama was allegedly abducted by a group of Maoist cadres on April 29, 2005 from the premises of Sri Krishna Secondary School at Chhatrebas Village Development Committee in Kavre.
The reports, quoting Lama´s widow Purni Maya, stated that he was produced before Sapkota by local Maoist activist Norbu Moktan. Sapkota allegedly directed Lama´s murder in the fourth week of June 2005.
The national and international human rights community had cautioned Prime Minister Khanal and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal against appointing any individual involved in grave human rights violations to high office.
The international community also had asked the Maoist chairman to keep those accused of human rights violations out of the cabinet when media reported in March that Sapkota was a probable Maoist ministerial candidate. Kathmandu-based Western envoys had jointly met Dahal to convey their stance that anyone becoming a minister from his party should have a clean human rights record.
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