3 Nepal soldiers jailed over Maoist death in custody

Fifteen-year-old Maina Sunuwar died while being interrogated by the army in 2004. Media reports said she had been subjected to severe torture.

Colonel Bobby Khatri was the highest-ranking army officer to be jailed for human rights abuse since troops and police began fighting nine years ago to crush a Maoist insurgency in the impoverished kingdom.

"The general military court of the army last week issued the verdict sentencing the officers," said the army official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The court ruled the "behavior shown" by Khatri and Captains Sunil Adhikari and Amit Pun while interrogating the teenager violated her human rights, the official said, adding the officers had failed to follow "proper procedure."

He said the school student died in army custody in Panchkhal, 75 km east of Kathmandu, in February 2004.

Earlier this month the UN official in charge of investigating torture allegations said Nepal's police and army systematically practised torture to extract confessions.