Col. Lama presented in UK court; Trial in June

Nepal Army Colonel Kumar Lama, who was been detained in the UK, has been presented at the Old Bailey court over two counts of torture.

Nepal Army Colonel Kumar Lama

Lama, wearing a brown jumper and glasses, appeared via videolink from Belmarsh prison in Greenwich, south-east London, on Thursday, the Guardian reported. "He sat quietly throughout the 40-minute preliminary hearing before Mr Justice Fulford."

According to local media reports, Lama's trial is expected to last between four and six weeks. It has been set for June 5 at Kingston crown court in London.

"The charges relate to two men, Janak Bahadur Raut and Karam Hussain, and were brought under Section 134 (subsection 1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988," reported the newspaper's online edition.

The Nepal government has hired Kingsley Napley, a British law firm that had defended former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, to handle Lama's case, according to reports. Although, the defence lawyers demanded bail for Lama, the court has denied him bail.

Earlier, Nepal government had provided 50,000 pounds to hire prominent lawyers to defend Lama's case. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai had also written a letter to the British Prime Minister, requesting for the Colonel's release, but the British government has not yet responded to the letter.

Lama, who was deployed in South Sudan as an observer in the UN mission, was arrested by UK police three weeks earlier on charges of human rights violations during the Maoist insurgency. Nepalnews.com