Incident Reports

British court acquits Colonel Lama

2016-09-07

Gandaki, Lamjung, Besishahar

The British Court has acquitted Colonel Lama who was facing conflict-related charges during Maoist insurgency according to various media. Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi quoting Nepalese Embassy in London said that the British court denied processing his case further on September 6 due to the lack of enough evidences.

  On August, the court had acquitted him in one case and on September 6 he was cleared in another case as well. It was said that Lama has been acquitted due to the lack of enough evidences. Lama was arrested in London under the international jurisdiction on the charges of torturing Janak Bahadur Raut and Karam Miya of Gorusinghe during conflict era.

On August 1, the court had acquitted him in the case of Karam Hussain, while the jury had failed to arrive on the consensus on the second count. One judge under the bench of justice Swini said that the decision was reached after not getting enough evidences against him for torture according to BBC Nepali Service. Lama was accused of atrocity during a decade long armed conflict in 2005 inside Gorusinghe barrack in Kapilvastu.

Colonel Lama was charged under the act 134 of British Criminal Justice which has a provision of international jurisdiction. Govinda Bandi, an expert in International Law, said that this incident has established that universal jurisdiction can be attracted. While speaking with INSEC online, he added that “accused getting charge or being acquitted is not so important, however it is established that universal jurisdiction can be attracted which is important. 

0 Comments