Rights group urges arrest of Nepali major

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Nepal's government must arrest an army major expelled from a U.N. peacekeeping force and accused of torturing a girl to death, Amnesty International said.

Maj. Niranjan Basnet is charged with the Feb. 17 killing of Maina Sunuwar, who died in military custody after being subjected to electrical shocks and water torture during interrogation, Amnesty International said Tuesday in a release. Her body was exhumed from an army barracks where Nepali U.N. peacekeepers are trained.

The human rights organization said Nepal's army has allowed Basnet to perform his duty and also hasn't cooperated with the civilian investigations, Amnesty International said.

It was learned last week that Basnet was part of the U.N. Peacekeeping Mission in Chad, Amnesty International said. The United Nations reportedly instructed the government of Nepal to repatriate him.

In 2008, Basnet was one of four soldiers charged by the Kavre District Court with killing Maina Sunuwar. A military court convicted the other three soldiers in 2005 of minor charges in the Sunuwar death.

"We have serious concerns that these military proceedings were neither independent nor impartial." said Jonathan O'Donohue of Amnesty International's international justice program, urging Basnet be prosecuted by a civilian court for his alleged involvement in Sunuwar's death.