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Committee To Protect Journalists Writes Prime Minister
By KTM Metro Reporter
September 16, 2011: the Committee To Protect Journalists (CPJ) yesterday has written a letter to Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai stating the committee has been alarmed by the planned amnesty of criminal cases in Nepal; and the committee is writing to express its concern for the people convicted of killing journalists going free following political decisions the government of Nepal makes.
Nepal already has an appalling record for prosecuting killers of journalists, 7th worst in the world following the CPJ's 2011 Impunity Index computed unsolved murders as a percentage of the country's population. Withdrawing any cases relating to the six unsolved or partially solved media killings CPJ has documented in Nepal since 2002 would be an injustice to those slain while reporting on both sides of the country's brutal conflict. It would also encourage continuance of attacks on, threats to, and harassment of journalists prevailing nationwide in Nepal today.
In May, Dr. Bhattarai told the journalists that his party would "not make any compromise on press freedom." This planned amnesty would be such a compromise. The committee has urged Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai not to sacrifice justice for political interest, but to use his influence on the Maoist and Madheshi groups to ensure a full and fair accounting for past crimes against the press.
