Nepal’s former prime minister KP Sharma Oli was arrested yesterday as police investigate whether he was negligent in failing to prevent dozens of deaths in a crackdown on Gen Z-led anti-corruption protests last September, officials said.
Oli’s arrest, which his lawyer said was illegal and sparked protests by supporters who clashed with police, followed rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah’s swearing in as prime minister on Friday and a recommendation by a panel investigating violence during the protests that he should be prosecuted for negligence.
His former home minister Ramesh Lekhak was also arrested.
Seventy-six people were killed last September during a police crackdown on protesters demanding an end to corruption, more jobs and cleaner politics, leading to Oli’s resignation.
After his arrest yesterday, supporters staged protest rallies and clashed with police who tried to stop them burning tyres near the prime minister’s office.
Police lobbed a teargas shell and used batons to break up the protests, injuring one person, witnesses said.
Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) called his arrest illegal and said it was an act of ‘revenge’.
It demanded his immediate release and said more protests were planned for today.
Home Minister Sudan Gurung dismissed the criticism, saying on Facebook: “It is the beginning of justice. The country will take a new direction now.”
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