UK court acquits Col Lama on second count of war crimes

A British court on Tuesday acquitted Nepal Army Colonel Kumar Lama, who was arrested in the United Kingdom more than three years ago under universal jurisdiction on a charge of torture. The Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey terminated the criminal proceedings against Lama in the case related to torturing Janak Raut in Nepal in 2005. The court accepted that it will not proceed to a re-trial following a jury failing to reach a verdict in August. Lama was given clean chit by a jury last month in another case involing the torture of another Nepali Karim Husain but the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the charge of torturing Raut. The jury decided that there was insufficient evidence for them to be satisfied of Lama's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. According to UK Law, a prosecution for torture requires the consent of the Attorney General. In deciding whether or not a prosecution for torture should proceed, the AG will take into account whether there is sufficient admissible and reliant evidence to afford a realistic prospect of conviction, and whether a prosecution for torture would be in the public interest.