Nepali government set to pardon lawmaker involved in murder

Oct 2, 2011, 15:30 GMT

Kathmandu - The Nepali government was Sunday set to pardon a Maoist lawmaker convicted of involvement in a 1998 murder, local media reported.

The move comes amid growing concerns that the new Maoist-led coalition government may undermine the rule of law by withdrawing court cases filed against those accused of committing serious crimes during the country's ten-year-long armed conflict, which ended in 2006.

The cabinet on Sunday forwarded an amnesty proposal for United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (UCPN-M) lawmaker Bal Krishna Dhungel to the president.

Since the president's role is mainly ceremonial, he can only turn down a government decision in unusual circumstances.

Dhungel was in 2010 sentenced to life imprisonment by the Supreme Court for his involvement in a murder in 1998, when the country was mired in civil war.

Despite the court decision, Dhungel has been free to move about the country and has also attended parliamentary proceedings.

Rights activists have condemned a four-point agreement between the UCPN-M and a crucial faction of parties from the Tarai belt, the country's bread basket, which led to the formation of a coalition government a month ago.

According to a provision in the four-point deal, the government will grant amnesty to those charged with crimes committed during the Maoist insurgency and the 2007 revolt in the Tarai belt.

UCPN-M insists Dhungel's case is of a political nature and he cannot be tried by regular courts. The party has said that only a yet-to-be-formed Truth and Reconciliation Commission can look into criminal cases from the conflict period.