Two senior leaders of the CPN (Maoist), Matrika Yadav, and Suresh Ale Magar, have been freed from Nakkhu prison in Lalitpur on Thursday as per the order of the Lalitpur Appellate Court.
The court ordered for the release of the Maoist leaders after the council of ministers decided to withdraw criminal charges leveled against them.
The government had filed charges against Yadav and Magar last year alleging them of being responsible for the murder of then Inspector General of the Armed Police Force Krishna Mohan Shrestha, his wife and body guard some three years ago.
India had arrested and deported Yadav and Ale Magar in February 2004. They were reportedly arrested by Indian security personnel in Lucknow and later handed over to Nepali authorities. They were being kept under military custody since then and later made public only in September 2005.
Talking to reporters upon their release, senior leader of the CPN (Maoist) Matrika Yadav said his party won’t sit for negotiations with the government unless all the Maoist detainees were freed. He also alleged that the reinstatement of the House of Representatives was a ploy to “slow down” the people’s movement.
Yadav was the chief of the “Madheshi Autonomous People’s Government” declared by the Maoists while Ale Magar is a leader of the indigenous people’s front affiliated to the Maoists.