Nepal President Ramchandra Poudel on Sunday pardoned 501 convicts including Tharuhat leader and Nagarik Unmukti Party chief Resham Chaudhary who is serving life imprisonment.
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Earlier in the morning, a meeting of the Council of Ministers decided to recommend a presidential pardon for 501 jail inmates, including 19 political prisoners, according to the President's Office.
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Chaudhary has been serving life imprisonment for brutally killing nine people, including eight policemen, during a riot linked to the Tharuhat movement in the Tikapur area of the Kailali district in 2015.
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On Friday, President Poudel refused to waive the life sentence of Chaudhary as recommended by the government.
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Former bureaucrats and civil society leaders have expressed concern over the government's latest move.
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"This will give rise to the criminalization of politics. This will also pose a serious threat to the rule of law,” said former secretary Shankar Prasad Koirala.
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Most of the other 482 inmates exempted from remaining jail terms at the recommendation of the council of ministers faced criminal charges.
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The government will release the inmates on the occasion of Republic Day on May 29.
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There have been many attempts by several governments to release Chaudhary, who won the 2017 election while still in hiding after being accused in the Tikapur incident.
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In December last, the government even brought an ordinance to release Chaudhary, but later decided to drop the idea.