VISIT WITH JAILED BHUTANESE REFUGEE S.K. PRADHAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 000990

SIPDIS

GENEVA FOR RMA
ROME FOR USMISSION
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/21/2012
TAGS: PREF PHUM PGOV PREL EAID AORC NP
SUBJECT: VISIT WITH JAILED BHUTANESE REFUGEE S.K. PRADHAN

REF: A. KATHMANDU 425


B. 01 KATHMANDU 1913

Classified By: Ambassador Michael E. Malinowski, Reasons 1.5 (b),(d).


1. (C) Summary. In a meeting with Embassy visitors to his
jail in southeastern Nepal, prominent Bhutanese refugee and
human rights activist S.K. Pradhan protested his innocence in
the case of another refugee leader's murder. Pradhan said he
had nothing to gain from the man's death and did not
understand what drove the late leader's associate to file a
complaint against more than forty individuals, including
himself. Pradhan has been treated well during his detention,
a fact he ascribes to his jailers' belief that he is getting
a raw deal. Problems with Nepal's civil code and criminal
procedures have prevented him from enjoying due process, he
asserted. Well-connected internationally, Pradhan has
marshaled wide support, including from prominent Nepalis and
even Government of Nepal (GON) officials. Pradhan is largely
a prisoner of an ineffective legal system, though his case
also reflects divisions within the Bhutanese refugee
community that are a microcosm of the factionalism that
afflicts Nepal's politics. End Summary.


2. (SBU) Poloff and visiting DRL/PHD Officer Gianni Paz met
jailed Bhutanese refugee and human rights activist S.K.
Pradhan at the Jhapa District branch jail during a recent
visit to southeastern Nepal. Pradhan was arrested September
19, 2001, and charged with conspiracy in the September 9,
2001 murder of R.K. Budhatoki, another refugee activist (Ref
B). Pradhan's arrest came after an associate of Budhatoki
filed a complaint naming 43 individuals as parties to the
conspiracy (Ref A). Altogether eleven individuals remain in
custody under this complaint.

Pradhan Protests Prosecution
--------------


3. (C) Pradhan denied any involvement in Budathoki,s murder,
for which he said he was falsely implicated. Budathoki was
not an enemy, he told us, and besides he would have nothing
to gain from Budathoki,s death. Altogether nine Bhutanese
refugees were arrested; all now reside in the same jail as
Pradhan. The killer had reportedly gone to India, Pradhan
had heard. Pradhan said he tried - without success - to
contact the person who filed the complaint. He did not know
what drove the man, whose name is Poudel, to file a complaint
against more than 40 people, including Pradhan himself:
"that,s the hundred million dollar question."


4. (C) Relating the story of his confinement, Pradhan said
that a group of men in plainclothes came to his house and
told him he was under arrest. He asked the men to show
identification and a warrant, both of which they refused to
produce. Pradhan then contacted officers at his local police
post, who came to the house and positively identified the men
as police. Only after he was put in detention did he learn
that a complaint had been filed against him.

Well-Treated in Jail
--------------


5. (C) Pradhan described conditions in the jail as good, and
added that jailers and fellow inmates alike treat him with
respect. He had no health problems, and had not been beaten
or tortured. He occupies a "special room," less crowded than
the others - but still shared with seventeen other men.
Special arrangements have been made to allow Pradhan visits -
including conjugal visits - and telephone privileges. (Note:
On two occasions in the past, Emboff was permitted to speak
to Pradhan on the telephone (Ref A). End Note.)


6. (C) Pradhan told us he believes he gets special treatment
"because they think I am innocent." He added that he is
well-behaved and does not cause trouble. His main complaint
is that he is only allowed to write in Nepali, which is not
his best language. His outgoing letters are censored.
Nepali human rights activists had visited him in the jail,
including Sushil Pyakurel, a member of the Government,s
Human Rights Commission. Pradhan has access to a jail
library, including works on Nepali law, and to
English-language newspapers.

Sees Shortcomings in Legal System
--------------

7. (C) Having read up on Nepal's legal system while in jail,
Pradhan claimed to have found problems with both Nepal's
criminal procedures and civil law. Under the civil law,
Pradhan said, an alien can be arrested on a simple charge,
without evidence, and be imprisoned until trial. Pre-trial
investigations can take years. (Note: Under Nepali law
aliens are not eligible for bail.) He added that he had not
been afforded due process. He had no opportunities to
examine the evidence against him or even to ask a judge for
permission to see it. During the hearings on his case held
to date, he had not once been allowed to speak, he said. In
fact, the only time he was allowed to state his case was
immediately after his arrest, when a police officer took his
statement.

World Travelers Garner International Sympathy
--------------


8. (C) In recent years Pradhan has been a regular on the
international human rights circuit, including at UNCHR
sessions in Geneva. Just before his arrest he attended the
World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) in Durban, South
Africa. Previously a civil servant in Bhutan, Pradhan earned
an M.P.A. at Penn State and also studied in India and the
U.K. Pradhan has been able to marshal his international
contacts in support of efforts to gain his release. Members
of Nepal's elite and even government officials have voiced
disbelief that Pradhan was involved in the murder. The Chief
District Officer for Jhapa stated that the murder of
Budathoki and subsequent prosecution of S.K. Pradhan "must be
a conspiracy carried out by the Bhutanese government."

Comment
--------------


9. (C) Were Pradhan not a refugee, he would have been able to
walk free on bail soon after his arrest. Nepali law does not
afford bail to foreigners. Moreover, a convoluted and opaque
legal process has prevented Pradhan from responding to the
complaint against him in a timely and meaningful fashion.
Most Nepalis share Pradhan's despair about their courts'
ability to dispense justice. Even so, to some degree
Pradhan's predicament is also a result of the factionalism
that afflicts Nepali society. The politics of the Bhutanese
refugee camps - where nearly all the residents are ethnic
Nepali - mirror those of Nepal itself, and Pradhan has
apparently been the victim of another faction's desire to
pull him down a notch.
MALINOWSKI