Nepal’s Former PM Oli Arrested Over Gen Z Protest Crackdown Last Year

Kathmandu : Nepal’s Former Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli was arrested on Saturday, a day after the newly formed government of Balendra Shah implemented the probe commission report on the Gen Z protest that rocked the nation last year.
Oli, also CPN-UML chair, was arrested at the Gundu area of Bhaktapur district, 12 km east of Kathmandu, early Saturday morning, according to the police.
Former Home Minister and Nepali Congress leader Ramesh Lekhak has also been arrested from his residence at Katunje of Suryabinayak Municipality in Bhaktapur district, police added.
Both Oli and Lekhak have been arrested on charges of their involvement in suppressing the Gen Z movement of September 8 and 9 last year, in which 76 people, including around two dozen youths, were killed.
The probe commission formed to investigate the incident surrounding the Gen Z movement has recommended legal action against Oli and Lekhak, among others, under criminal offence.
Nepal’s newly formed government, led by Balendra Shah, in its first cabinet meeting on Friday, decided to immediately implement the recommendations made by the probe commission.
“Nobody is above the law,” wrote Home Minister Sudhan Gurung in a social post after the arrest.  “We have taken under control former Prime Minister K.P. Oli and former Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak. This is not a revenge against anybody, just the beginning of justice,” he said.
“I believe that now the country will take a new direction,” he added.
Both Oli and Lekhak have been taken into detention at the Kathmandu District Police Circle in Bhadrakali, said the police.  The probe commission has recommended a jail sentence of up to three to ten years for the offence.
A senior police officer at the Kathmandu District Police Circle told PTI that they will be presented before the Kathmandu District Court on Sunday, as it is a holiday on Saturday. Then the process of investigation in the case will start, he added.
K P Oli was taken to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital for medical examination soon after the detention.
This is part of a legal process of investigation, said a police officer.
Meanwhile, CPN-UML has called an emergency meeting of the party’s secretariat at its central office in Lalitpur to discuss the situation. (Agencies)