Experts study Nepal 'mass grave'

By Charles Haviland
BBC News, Kathmandu

Forensic experts from Finland have gathered samples at the site

Forensic scientists in Nepal are investigating a recently discovered site thought to contain the buried or cremated remains of up to 49 people.

The site is thought to contain the remains of people who disappeared after being detained by the army during a decade of conflict with Maoist rebels.

Experts from Finland and Nepal are investigating the suspected grave site in secluded forests north of Kathmandu.

Some 13,000 people died in the conflict and several hundreds remain missing.

Almost all the cases of the missing remain unsolved, leaving hundreds of families in anguish.

The UN Deputy Human Rights Chief, who has just been on a visit to Nepal, voiced concern that not a single perpetrator of human rights violations in the country has yet been convicted as the result of a criminal investigation.

UN warnings

The site currently under investigation was discovered in December by Nepal's National Human Rights Commission, or NHRC.

It is believed it may contain the remains of 49 people, most of them suspected Maoists.

The army and the Maoists have both been accused of atrocities

They disappeared after being detained by the army five years ago in a notorious barracks nearby, on the city's outskirts.

The Finnish experts came at the NHRC's invitation and are expected to be here around two weeks working with Nepalese experts.

As well as visiting the site, they will carry out a detailed examination of materials already found there.

The UN has repeatedly said that virtually no progress has been made in setting up commissions on disappearances or on truth and reconciliation, despite the peace agreement saying this would happen.

Analysts note that the country's present leaders, as well as its past ones, might stand to be implicated by such commissions.