Kathmandu (dpa) - Nepali police detained activists and relatives of victims of forced disappearances Sunday during a protest against the promotion of an army officer accused of human rights violations.
The demonstrators rallied outside the prime minister’s residence against the decision Thursday to promote Colonel Raju Basnet to brigadier general despite the allegations of war-time atrocities.
The National Human Rights Commission and UN Office of the High Commission for Human Rights said Basnet had a leading role in the disappearances of 49 prisoners from the Bhairavnath Battallion base in 2003.
The army was accused of torturing suspected Maoists and their supporters during the 1996-2006 conflict. Several suspects were not seen after being held in captivity at the base.
In 2007, the Supreme Court ordered an investigation, but the government failed to follow through.
More than 16,000 people were killed during the war, and more than 1,000 are listed as missing.
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