KATHMANDU: In a fresh twist to the six-year-old saga of Charles Sobhraj's arrest and murder conviction in Nepal, that electrified the world
almost three decades after his criminal career had ebbed, the UN has taken up cudgels on behalf of the 64-year-old, giving credence to his claim that he was the victim of fraud and injustice in the Himalayan republic.
After losing the battle for freedom in Kathmandu's district and appellate courts, which held him guilty of the murder of American tourist Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975, Sobhraj, a cult figure in the 70s with reports of his preying on western tourists and staging audacious jail breaks, approached the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva last November for "justice".
According to Sobhraj's lawyer in Paris, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, the only "evidence" police produced to prove that he had come to Nepal in 1975 – which he denies – werephotocopies of two guest registration cards. According to the prosecution, Sobhraj had visited Nepal in 1975 using the passport of a Dutch tourist and stayed in two upmarket hotels. The handwriting in the two hotel guest registration cards, they claim, matches Sobhraj's handwriting.
Sobhraj's lawyers have reject the cards, saying they are crude forgeries by police. More importantly, photocopies are not admissible in court as evidence, according to Nepal's laws. Though several judges asked police and the prosecutor to produce the actual cards, Coutant-Peyre pointed out to the UN office that they had failed to produce them in six years. She had also complained to the UN that Nepal's officials were deliberately delaying the trial.
Last week, Sobhraj's prayers were heard when Ibrahim Salama, chief of the Human Rights Treaties branch at the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, informed his lawyer that the UN body is taking up his case. Salama also said that his office has asked the Maoist government of Nepal to send its reply to the complaints within six months.
A triumphant Coutant-Peyre said she was happy that the UN has taken up Sobhraj's case.
"Though a new republican political system has replaced absolute and arbitrary monarchy in Nepal, there is no progress in the judiciary, of whom Charles Sobhraj is a victim," she told TNN. "I hope Nepal will be severely condemned for these violations and the nightmare endured by Charles Sobhraj and his family for five and a half years will end soon."
Sobhraj, who has been stopped from meeting visitors in prison except his lawyers and fiancée, was upbeat at the news, his Nepali lawyers said.
The 64-year-old alleges that bribes were paid to secure a conviction against him. He also says once he is released, he will use the "incriminating tapes" and photographs in his possession in his new book on his trial and imprisonment in Nepal that will "expose" the "rampant corruption in police and judiciary".
Source: Times of India
No comments:
Post a Comment