National
Rights activists arrested for protesting against Sapkota as Speaker released
Agni Sapkota must face an independent and effective investigation, Amnesty International says.Post Report
Police released all 12 human rights activists and conflict victims, who were arrested earlier on Monday for protesting against Agni Sapkota’s election as Speaker, in the evening.
They were protesting outside the Office of the President where Sapkota was being sworn in.
Janak Raut, general secretary of Conflict Victims Common Platform, one of the persons arrested, said that police on Monday evening released all in the presence of Kapil Shrestha, a rights activist.
Purnimaya Lama, Charan Prasai, Alina Gautam, Nirajan Thapaliya, Bipin Budhathoki, Sankar Budathoki and Jesselina Rana among others are the arrestees.
Umesh Lamsal, chief of the Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Range, told the Post that the protesters were arrested because they were demonstrating in a restricted area.
After arresting them, police had taken them to Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Range.
Earlier on Monday, Amnesty International, whose staff also were among the arrestees, had called on Nepal government to release the rights activists, saying peaceful protest is not a crime.
“The Nepal authorities must immediately and unconditionally release our staff and supporters and other activists who have been detained solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” Biraj Patnaik, South Asia director of Amnesty International, in a statement. “Instead of detaining Amnesty International staff and supporters, the authorities would do better to expend their energies investigating people accused of serious crimes and bringing them to justice through fair trials.
Despite concerns from rights activists, conflict victims and international rights bodies, the House elected the former Maoist leader on Sunday afternoon, hours after a court hearing on a writ against him was stalled. The Nepali Congress chose not to field any candidate against Sapkota, paving the way for his election as Speaker unopposed.
Sapkota, a two-time minister, faces charges of the abduction and murder of Arjun Lama of Kavrepalanchowk in 2005. A hearing on the case at the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Bench is scheduled for February 5. The Speaker post had been vacant since early October last year after Krishna Bahadur Mahara stepped down following allegations of attempted rape.
In its Monday statement, Amnesty International said that the activists had every right to protest against the ruling Nepal Communist Party’s decision to appoint Agni Sapkota, a person accused of criminal responsibility for crimes during the country’s decade-long internal conflict, as Speaker of the federal Parliament.
“Agni Sapkota must face an independent and effective investigation, as directed by Nepal’s Supreme Court,” Patnaik said in the statement.