E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.5
page 20
all. He was taken to the hospital twice, where he was given medication which had no effect. As
a result of the beatings, he complained of a loss of feeling and movement in his legs, and
difficulty hearing. After spending 15 months in the Maharajgunj barracks he was taken with
17 other detainees hooded and handcuffed to the Shivapuri barracks at around 11 or 12 p.m. In
heavy rain, they were ordered to stand in line, take the hand of the next person, and walk along a
path. While they were walking they were constantly beaten. The two female prisoners who
were with them were verbally abused. The detainees walked for approximately 30 minutes
without shoes, and were repeatedly beaten on their feet and legs. They did not get anything to
drink. When they arrived they had to sit on a cement floor for 15-30 minutes before they were
separated into two groups of nine persons and taken to different rooms. They were not allowed
to speak, could not bathe for one week, and were given poor quality rice, lentil soup and water.
They were kept in the Shivapuri barracks for about 23 days. Because they were not interrogated
or tortured, it was thought that they had been moved there to hide them from a human rights
NGO. The day after being taken back to the Maharajgunj barracks, he was returned to the
Shivapuri barracks with two others, Tara Bhandari and Lahanu Ram Chaudhari. They were kept
in separate rooms and interrogated for nine days by an army major, but were not tortured. He
was detained in the army barracks without being shown a warrant, his family had not been
informed of his detention, and he never saw a judge. The army had detained him for six months
under TADO, extended for another six months. He spent approximately 16 months in the
barracks and 7 months in the Central Jail, with 5 months remaining. He had not received a visit
in the last seven months.
15.
The Government informed that no information could be found at present.
16.
Dinesh Shrestha, aged 25, Naya Bazaar, Kathmandu. On 15 August 2005, at
approximately 9 p.m., about 15-20 RNA personnel in plain clothes came to his home,
apprehended and blindfolded and took him to the Singha Durbar barracks. He was not informed
of the reasons for his arrest. At about 10 p.m. they began interrogating him to obtain intelligence
relating to his work as a journalist for the pro-Maoist weekly, Janadesh, including the names of
other journalists. He was beaten with a 1-m-long plastic pipe filled with water. He was
restrained from behind, struck on the chest with a stick, hit in the face and punched all over his
body. He was then tied up, hung upside down, his face covered with a mask, and water was
poured over his face and into his nose. He was unable to breathe and lost consciousness. This
treatment continued for almost two hours. When he revived, he was handcuffed and taken to the
Maharajgunj barracks in the early hours of 16 August. At about 7 a.m., the interrogation and
torture commenced again. He was beaten by the same people as the night before, but he did not
know their names. The beatings continued, and his child and wife threatened with death. That
evening he was transferred to Hanuman Dhoka District Police Office and continued to be held
blindfolded and handcuffed for two days until a TADO order for six months’ detention was
signed by a Chief District Officer (he was not brought before the CDO). On 18 August, he was
taken to the Central Jail. His sister and parents visited him in jail. He reported that within the
jail, he and others were periodically taken to an “investigative committee”, a joint committee of
the army and the police called the District Security Committee, where prisoners had to recant
their involvement with the Maoists. In order to receive rehabilitation, prisoners are given a
21-point action plan, which includes having to write a statement that they would surrender and
leave the CPN Maoist party and provide authorities assistance in identifying other Maoists.
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