Nepal
06.05.04
Urgent Interventions
Nepal: Mr. S.K. Pradhan's trial has been postponed for the 19th time
Open Letter to
Mr. Surya Bahadur Thapa,
Prime Minister of Nepal
Paris-Geneva, May 6, 2004
Your Excellency,
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has been informed by the Peoples Forum for Human Rights and Democracy (PFHRD), a Nepal-based Bhutanese human rights association, that the trial of Mr. S.K. Pradhan, Secretary-General of the PFHRD has been postponed again. On May 2, 2004, the District Court of Chandragari, Jhapa, postponed Mr. S.K. Pradhan’s trial to May 9, 2004. This is the nineteenth time the trial has been postponed since he was arrested on September 19, 2001. This was reportedly due to the fact that the Chief Judge, Mr. Tanka Bahadur Moktan, was unavailable that day.
Mr. Pradhan was arrested at his home in Kathmandu without an arrest warrant by policemen in plainclothes. The next day he was taken to the Chandragari Prison, in Jhapa, eastern Nepal. He was charged with involvement in the murder of Mr. R.K. Budhathoki, chairman of the Bhutan Peoples’ Party (BPP), which took place on September 9, 2001, when he was holding a meeting with several refugee students in the office of the Youth Organisation of Bhutan (YOB) in Damak, Jhapa.
According to the information received, Mr. Pradhan was arrested on the basis of written complaints made by Mr. Balaram, Secretary-General of the BPP. No additonal proof of Mr. Pradhan’s involvement in the crime was reportedly provided. Allegedly, at the time of the murder, Mr. Pradhan was in Kathmandu, 500 kms away from Damak.
The Observatory is deeply concerned about the repeated delays of Mr. Pradhan’s trial, and the authority’s denial to release him on bail. The Observatory urges Nepali authorities to bring Mr. Pradhan before an impartial and a competent tribunal without any further delays and to comply with the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular with its Article 12.2, which states that [T]he State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”, as well as Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Nepal is a party, which provides (§3) “[a]nyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release (…)”.
In the hope you will take these considerations and requests into account,
We remain,
Sidiki KABA Eric SOTTAS
President of FIDH Director of OMCT
Mr. Surya Bahadur Thapa,
Prime Minister of Nepal
Paris-Geneva, May 6, 2004
Your Excellency,
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has been informed by the Peoples Forum for Human Rights and Democracy (PFHRD), a Nepal-based Bhutanese human rights association, that the trial of Mr. S.K. Pradhan, Secretary-General of the PFHRD has been postponed again. On May 2, 2004, the District Court of Chandragari, Jhapa, postponed Mr. S.K. Pradhan’s trial to May 9, 2004. This is the nineteenth time the trial has been postponed since he was arrested on September 19, 2001. This was reportedly due to the fact that the Chief Judge, Mr. Tanka Bahadur Moktan, was unavailable that day.
Mr. Pradhan was arrested at his home in Kathmandu without an arrest warrant by policemen in plainclothes. The next day he was taken to the Chandragari Prison, in Jhapa, eastern Nepal. He was charged with involvement in the murder of Mr. R.K. Budhathoki, chairman of the Bhutan Peoples’ Party (BPP), which took place on September 9, 2001, when he was holding a meeting with several refugee students in the office of the Youth Organisation of Bhutan (YOB) in Damak, Jhapa.
According to the information received, Mr. Pradhan was arrested on the basis of written complaints made by Mr. Balaram, Secretary-General of the BPP. No additonal proof of Mr. Pradhan’s involvement in the crime was reportedly provided. Allegedly, at the time of the murder, Mr. Pradhan was in Kathmandu, 500 kms away from Damak.
The Observatory is deeply concerned about the repeated delays of Mr. Pradhan’s trial, and the authority’s denial to release him on bail. The Observatory urges Nepali authorities to bring Mr. Pradhan before an impartial and a competent tribunal without any further delays and to comply with the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular with its Article 12.2, which states that [T]he State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”, as well as Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Nepal is a party, which provides (§3) “[a]nyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release (…)”.
In the hope you will take these considerations and requests into account,
We remain,
Sidiki KABA Eric SOTTAS
President of FIDH Director of OMCT